May 8th this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Victory in Europe Day. This anniversary is celebrated to mark the day that German High Command offered the allied forces their unconditional surrender ending the western front of WW2. For those who lived through the war it represented the end of a brutal six-year long conflict and with the support of the government street parties and celebrations erupted across the country. Today the anniversary represents a chance for us to reflect on the legacy of the war and look back on those stories.
Some of the most striking VE Day photographs from our collections are these images from the Ferranti factories. During the war these factories produced the fuses and valves necessary for advanced wartime electronics, including innovative radar technology. Of particular note in these photos are the reams of bunting, which thanks to a statement from the board of trade could be purchased throughout May without needing to use up valuable rationing coupons for cloth.
Outside of workplaces communities organised their own more impromptu celebrations, bringing chairs and tables out into the streets. The scale of celebrations was so large that many people resorted to more impromptu techniques like wooden planks and trestles from local schools. In Freda Millet’s book “Oldham & Its People” there is even an account of one person removing the door of their lavatory to use as a table.
Elsewhere in Oldham many young children would have had extra cause for celebration. At the start of the war young children living in urban centres were evacuated to areas less likely to suffer bombing. Oldham was one such destination, and in addition to those who were evacuated at the start of the war the area Oldham was also chosen as the destination for a schools worth of young boys from Guernsey when the islands came under threat in 1940. Unfortunately, these children wouldn’t be able to celebrate until the latter half of the year, as children only finished returning home in the September of 1945.
One of the more dramatic stories leading up to VE Day is George Browning’s journey home. Browning was a soldier from Oldham and spent the final days of the conflict as a prisoner of war in Chorzow. After being liberated by Russian troops in January he began a months long journey home. His epic trek began with a trip to Krakow where he was able to begin a ten-day train journey through Eastern Europe to the port of Odessa in Ukraine. This voyage took him through Istanbul, Alexandria, Naples, Gibraltar, and finally to Liverpool. Just two days later he would return to Werneth ready to celebrate VE day just a few weeks later. Browning’s diary from the journey has been digitised and is available to view in our archives.
These stories are just a tiny sample of our wartime collections, and there is far more to discover. So if the anniversary of VE Day has you keen to explore Oldham’s wartime heritage why not take the opportunity to search our archive catalogues or browse our reference library.
