CAHS Snapshots of Local History – Eighty years on : VE and VJ Days in Cirencester in 1945

With contributions from Cirencester Archaeological & Historical Society, Cirencester Civic Society, members & friends

Eighty years ago this month there began a series of events locally, marking the end of the Second World War, firstly in Europe and then world-wide. So we have VE Day (Victory in Europe) on Tuesday 08 May and VJ Day (Victory over Japan) on Tuesday 14 August, a reminder if any were needed that nearly six long years of warfare had finally come to an end.

Celebration is and probably always has been the wrong word to describe the end of such torment and loss of life, but marking the occasion was certainly much needed and not to be missed. It took a variety of forms across the country depending on local resources and organisation.

We should remember that neither date could be accurately predicted in advance, and so much was down to impromptu local effort once the final threshold was crossed and peace finally declared. Immediate celebration was usually then followed by other more structured events and parades, as happened in Cirencester and elsewhere.

Gatherings in the Market Place were the main focus on 08 May: listening to Winston Churchill’s radio broadcast relayed to the nation and thereafter dancing and singing both there and in the Corn Hall and the Church Hall, everywhere in a mood of enormous relief.

Street parties were a popular and traditionally informal gathering (still occasionally revived today) based around localities in the town. Some did and some didn’t participate but the town’s still relatively recently-built Chesterton Estate produced some good examples captured by photographers in Apsley Road and Springfield Road.

Kingsmead’s street party on Saturday 26 May was a well-supported occasion, helped no doubt by the street being a cul-de-sac, as it still is. As well as the party a bonfire was lit, complete with effigies of Hitler and Goering, and the local impromptu ‘Old Sweats’ Victory Rag-time Jazz Band, organised by local man Harry May, led a torchlight procession around the area. They had previously been busy livening up the proceedings in the Market Place on VE day itself.

Sunday 20 May was the town’s formal Victory Parade into the Market Place and  the Parish Church for a Thanksgiving Service. Pouring rain rather spoilt the occasion, one of the few surviving photos showing US troops leading the 700-strong parade of armed forces and civilian services personnel marching past Cirencester’s Police and ARP (Air Raid Precautions) contingents. The large tank was one of two in the centre of the Market Place as emergency water supply for the town.

Celebrations following VJ Day in August took similar form, including a fancy-dress competition for local children held in Sperringate on 25 August, with plenty of impromptu effort. Market Place celebrations, including dancing in the evening, were held around the re-use of some of the Coronation decorations installed there for the King & Queen in 1937, a neat piece of period re-cycling!  

In the following year, on 22 May 1946, a memorable occasion was the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Cirencester, principally to mark the re-opening of the Royal Agricultural College. Arriving by train at Cirencester (Town) station, they were introduced to various community representatives, with memories of war-time experiences still strong. Local children were lined up in in Tetbury Road for the journey up to the College. This occasion also recalled an earlier Royal visit on 12 April 1923 for the re-opening of the RAC following the First World War. 

The officially-marked war-end celebrations on Saturday 08 June 1946 took various familiar forms, including a Peal of Bells and a Thanksgiving United Service in the parish church, plus processions and entertainment in the Market Place and elsewhere.

A personal message from King George VI came to every schoolchild in the UK. Surviving examples, often rather well-worn, continue to pop up from time to time. The ‘Victory Celebrations‘ leaflet produced by the Urban District Council is another collector’s item. Memories may fade but modest items such as this, alongside the more formal record, all contribute to the collective heritage of Cirencester in the Second World War.

Peter Grace & David Viner

For more information seek out:

Jean Welsford and Peter Grace Cirencester in the 1930s & 40s (1990)

Peter Grace From the Embers : a Wartime Reminiscence (1999)

Peter Grace Cirencester At War (Amberley 2017)

& whole-page Fifty Years On features in Wilts & Glos Standard on 04 May and 17 August 1995.

Support Cirencester’s principal heritage societies and their event programmes: Archaeological & Historical Society (www.cirenhistory.org.uk) and Civic Society (www.ccsoc.org.uk), which runs a programme of Town Walks in the season plus pre-booked for small groups. See the Society’s website or email Rob Tuttle: info@townwalkscirencester.uk or robtuttle@btinternet.com

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