Dorreen’s memories of VE Day in London
A Sunderland woman has described her amazing memories of VE Day as she joined the millions of people packed into London.
Dorreen Storey, nee Snaith, was 12 when she got to experience one of the most incredible days in history.
War was over in Europe and Dorreen had been evacuated to live with relations in Earley near Reading.
As soon as peace in Europe came, Dorreen was transferred to be with another aunt at Muswell Hill – ready to be picked up at Kings Cross for the journey home.
But they had time to take in the VE Day celebrations, and what a sight they were.
Dorreen, now 87, said: “I had never seen the Underground before. On the way to London, everyone was shouting and they had hats and streamers.
“We went to Trafalgar Square and right up to Buckingham Palace and I saw the Royal family. It was all breathtaking.”
London that day was hit by violent thunderstorms yet still the crowds gathered from 8am. Newspapers reported “flashing skies” as if in a reminder of the air raids.
The visit to remember lasted from lunchtime until the evening for Dorreen. It included sandwiches for lunch and generally wandering around.
“It was fantastic and there was no trouble,” Dorreen remembered. “Some people were swimming in the Serpentine and climbing on statues. Everyone was so happy.”
Dorreen spent the war in a little village which was quiet and away from the worst of the air raids. She said she “didn’t mind because I knew I would be staying with relatives and they were good to me”.
During her childhood in Sunderland, Dorreen went to Hendon Board School and later West Park School when she came back home.
In later life, she worked in jobs including clerking, secretarial work, bookkeeping and later in a funeral directors.
We asked Dorreen whether the war years were harder for people than the world’s current battle with the coronavirus.
She said: “I don’t think things were harder then. We lived with it. Children didn’t expect much. We were happy with a ball to play with, or we played hopscotch.”
Dorreen’s husband Bill died in 1982. She has a daughter and three sons.