10 July 2005 has been named in Britain as the day to commemorate the end of WWII in both Europe and Asia, althopugh it is neither VE day not VJ day. Around the country, a number of events are planned on and around the day, in fact from now on for the next few weeks. Please post details (and web links if possible) of any events you know of which might interest members in the UK.
Just a clarification as the heading and your post show different dates. In the United Kingdom the Official 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II is Sunday 10th July 2005
Here's the main MOD site for what's on http://www.mod.uk/aboutus/history/ww2/index.html If you visit my website I have all the main links off the homepage Ryan
Originally posted by Chris Basey@Jun 23 2005, 03:44 PM Just a clarification as the heading and your post show different dates. [post=35723]Quoted post[/post] No longer. Corrected. It was a typo. Sorry folks and thanks Chris.
There was nothing much going on here locally. To me, the whole thing was far too London based and far too loaded down with royals and bible bosuns. Why couldn't it be a secular festival, without the royals and based on local events throughout the country?
Perhaps the answer lays in 'budget' - or rather the lack of it. We know the MOD are skint and the Government won't spend out on National heritage and plundered the Lottery to fund Veteran projects. However, while phase two of three which dealt with the Veterans Return programme was, IMHO, very fair and generous, phases one and three were bloody awful. There was the opportunity to commemorate both VE and VJ days, but, it was announced there would be just the one grand event. Only problem it wasn't grand. Yes, they would have been delighted if events were organised around the country, but there was no financial assistance on offer. In respect of media information and promotion, it was farcical to say the least. What the BBC, alone, televised was nothing more than a compact show-piece providing the required shots of carefully managed theatre for a few hours - with NO repeats. Negligible pre-publicity and a small facility for DIY euphoria via a few lame poorly funded websites - really helpful for people in their 80's. The whole thing was a 5/- production done begrudgingly because 'they' felt they had to do something. No excuses, it was utter crap and an insult to all the British who died and suffered in the name of freedom and humanity. No.9
