Lichfield museum takes visitors back to 1940s for special VE Day celebration event
Visitors to a Lichfield military museum were taken on a trip back in time to help to celebrate VE Day.
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The Staffordshire Regiment Museum and Mercian Regiment Archive put on a day of 1940s-themed fun on Saturday for visitors, inviting people to bring a picnic and relax in the sunshine, as well as enjoy a full street party in 1940s-style clothing.
With the sun shining and a wide range of entertainment on offer, it was a day for young and old to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day - the end of the Second World War in Europe.
Museum learning and events officer Nicola Bannister was part of the efforts to organise the event and spoke about what had taken place during the day.
She said: "Today was a day to commemorate and remember the end of the war and so we decided to have a street party in our area of the museum called Smart Street, which is all about the Second World War and has an Anderson Shelter and a dig for Victory garden.
"We turned the street into a street party for visitors, with all the bunting going up and, luckily, the sun has shone and we've had an Ukulele band providing entertainment.
"It's been a very relaxed environment and the visitors seem to have enjoyed their picnics, listening to the music, playing the old-fashioned games and looking at the displays we have up."
Ms Bannister also spoke about the importance of being able to continue to commemorate events such as VE Day.
She said: "It's obviously very important because the Staffordshire Regiment Museum is exactly what it says and we are the museum that represent the regiment and the antecedents, as well as the Mercian Regiment.
"It's important to recognise people who have served, who have given their lives so that we can live the lives we live and also to recognise that war still happens.
"There are still serving personnel out there and so it's important to recognise what has happened in the past and how that is influencing what has happened today, so I'm very proud to be able to put this event on.
"I will also say that these events don't work without the support of all the volunteers that give their time for free to help put these events on, so thank you to everyone."
