VE Day Celebrations
We had a wonderful day of celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
VE Day Preparations
Midway through the Spring term, planning began to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Where 11th November and 6th June provide annual opportunities to commemorate the fallen and to marvel at the bravery of the Allied soldiers, 8th May is truly a chance to reflect upon the joy that was unleashed by the civilian population at the news that loved ones would be returning and that almost six years of hardship were over. It was important, therefore, to include as many of that generation as we could in our celebrations. Via the Dunbar Community Council, we were delighted to anticipate over 30 guests from the Rotary Club and Dunbar Dementia Carers Support Group for tea and a street party.
At the same time, bringing it to life for children, for whom this is distant history, was equally vital and we were lucky to be able to count on the support of Neil and Allison Malloy, part of a Living History Group, who had visited Belhaven in our centenary year to complete their research on the locations used by the SOE (Special Operations Executive) during the Second World War.
Meanwhile, thanks to Christelle Baillie and Katie Gladstone, Belhaven’s families were encouraged to share their own stories, recollections and artefacts of the war. 12 children, ranging from Form 4 to Form 1, were to be given the honour of reading a variety of diary entries and letters to the whole School. Huge quantities of memorabilia from photographs to flags and uniforms flooded in and formed a fantastic focus for an exhibition.
VE Day Celebrations
Separate assemblies for Prep and Pre-Prep on the significance of VE Day for us today were held in the morning and, by lunchtime on Thursday 8th, we were ready to celebrate.
Neil and Allison took over the Sports Hall for the afternoon and met every one of Belhaven’s 168 pupils during the course of the afternoon. The Pre-Prep learnt the bunny hop; Forms 1 and 2 learnt about Belhaven’s significance during the war as the location from which attacks on the Tirpitz and a heavy water plant in Norway were co-ordinated; Forms 3, 4 and 5 learnt to use the Caesar and Morse code, discovered the ingenuity of Churchill and his team of inventors who inspired Ian Fleming’s Bond series from the bowels of the Natural History Museum and then learnt how to dance the 1940s jive.
At 3.30pm, we were joined by our guests from Dunbar as the children headed out to play cricket. A beautiful afternoon allowed everyone to enjoy a delicious tea in the Walled Garden before a brief tour of the School.
At 5pm, everyone was seated and ready for the central event, the series of readings from the children. We were treated to a fly-over – an amazing surprise for the School – from a Piper Cub L-4, an artillery spotter plane used on D-Day. After some wonderful stories – the description of Iris’ great-grandfather’s dinner with Stalin, ‘a small man with a twinkle in his eye’, being typical of the personal nature of their content – we were treated to a beautiful rendition of the Last Post played by a 13-year-old pupil at Knox Academy in Haddington. Both of his grandfathers had fought in the Second World War and he became the fifth generation of his family to play the Last Post at a commemorative event.
The Pipe Band then played for the first time this term as a way to mark the end of the official elements of the day and then it was time for tea! An amazing banquet had been laid out on the trestle tables in the Walled Garden thanks to the hard work of the PTFA and Inspire Catering team and everyone tucked in whilst still finding time to inspect the gadgets and inventions displayed by Neil and Allison and ask Mike Smith, resplendent in dress uniform, a million questions!
The highlight of the evening was seeing everyone take part in a whole School jive as the sun started to set on a memorable day that will, I hope, encourage the survival of the importance of this particular date in British history.
If you would like to donate £5 to Help for Heroes, please scan the QR code.
