News VE Day 80th Anniversary Celebrations 07.05.2025

This week Godolphin and Latymer joined the rest of the country in celebrating the 80th anniversary of Germany’s surrender to the Allied Forces on 8 May 1945 which formally ended the Second World War in Europe. On Thursday, after observing the national silence, the school community enjoyed a special VE Day celebration lunch.

During the week, to provide important context to the anniversary, Mrs Armstrong and Dr Woodberry from the History department and Mimi, Lower Sixth, and Arabella and Aurelia from Year 9 presented assemblies to explain the significance of the day and the huge sacrifices the British people had made following the German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 and the declaration of war. Dr Woodberry explained how, for the next two years, Britain very much stood alone as Germany overran, defeated, and conquered virtually all of continental Europe plunging it into a new dark age of occupation. The British people faced tremendous challenges including the retreat from Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the night-time ‘Blitz’ of London and many other cities, ports and industrial centres, and the real threat of invasion. But slowly the tide of war turned and finally the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 signalled a full frontal assault on German occupied Europe ending with Germany’s surrender on 8 May 1945. The students then eloquently narrated Churchill’s famous VE Day speech the King George VI radio broadcast to the people.

Mrs Armstrong showed incredible images from the day and the scenes of celebration and jubilation that followed including the Royal Family and Sir Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. She also described how the war inflicted a huge financial toll on the country alongside the devastation and terrible loss of life. Despite this, 8 May 1945 was a day for the whole country to come together with true British spirit and we very much enjoyed capturing the atmosphere of this joyful occasion at our own VE Day anniversary celebrations.