I celebrated VE Day at Nelson's Column in London - it was indescribable, the peace, everyone was free
When Blanche O’Flaherty heard war had ended on the morning of May 8 1945, there was only one thing for it.
The 101-year-old still remembers VE Day like it was yesterday and has told how she and a group of girls left their home in Holland Park and headed straight to the centre of London to celebrate VE Day.
Blanche O’Flaherty, who lives in Hambleton, remembers vividly hearing the news that the war had ended. She had served with the Auxilliary Territorial Service throughout the war as a cleric for the war office.
She said: “We heard about VE Day early moring.
“We got dressed and decided to go to the centre of London and ended up on Nelsons Column.
“The atmosphere was indescribable, the peace, everyone was free, they were going back to as normal life as possible.
“Everyone was so happy, dancing, singing, everything you hadn’t been doing.
“That day has never gone out of my mind. I remember vividly, we stayed there ‘til evening and went for something to eat in a cafe.
“A lady came over and said I’ve just seen your photograph in the paper!” The press had been capturing the spirit of the occasion, the photographs we rely on today to remember those important occasions. Blanche was photographed by Nelson’s Column with friends. The picture was out in the paper, that evening.
“In the evening we went to Hyde Park and stayed there until the early hours, bonfires were lit, the happiness, people smiled.”
Born in Leek, Blanche started school at four-years-old and left at 14. She worked in a textile mill making silk stockings, she stitched the toes and the heels.
As the war moved on, materials and commodities were needed and silk became one of them. But as time went on they were gradually made redundant.
Blanche kept seeing posters for the Auxilliary Territorial Service, she wanted to do something for the war effort and so enrolled. She was there until the war ended but decided to stay on and volunteered for Singapore. However fate stepped in.
Said Blanche: “I went to a holding place at North Mimms waiting to be shipped to Singapore. We got the train to London and as I was stepping out, I missed my footing and fell. I injured my back and couldn’t go.
“I was in the sick bay for weeks, it was disappointing.
Eventually Blanche met her late husband, James and they married in 1947. He was a shipping agent and went on to have three children. They lived in Sale, Cheshire but eventually moved to Bispham. James came to Blackpool as a child to visit his father in the Miner’s Convalescent Home. He loved the sun and the coastline - it made sense to move here.