VE80 Anniversary Exhibition

The VE80 Exhibition in the Parish Hall was put together by the local history group (contact: history@ewph.uk) and ran over the two days Fri/Sat 9-10 May 2025,  as well as Sunday brunch on 11th May.

The exhibition hosted three school parties on Friday together with several local residents popping in, and sometimes returning later in the day to complete the tour. Saturday was busy and Sunday was even busier but we’re sure the brunch was a big factor in people attending then.

Feedback from all visitors was very positive and we collected some additional stories and memories from people to add to our archive. It was hard work but enjoyable and very rewarding.

If you didn’t get to the Hall then you can see the exhibition display panels on our VE80 Exhibition page.

You can see some of the the visitors at the exhibition here:

VE80 Exhibition Visitors

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First impressions

List of Worlingto properties and residents in 1939.

The oldest land girl in town

Sandie in traditional Land Girl uniform.

Explaining the 1939 register

Wendy explaing how the 1939 register was undertaken.

Local memories

Boards showing local memories, searchlight camp and home guard.

Rollof Honour

One board was dedictaed to the five local people who lost thier lives while serving in the armed forces during WWII.

Timeline board and slideshow

A board showing 1939-45 local events and the hall slideshow - with contemporary music but you can't see that.

WWII food recipes

Liz created a selection of food using wartime recipes for visitors to sample.

Sunday brunch

Somehow we squeezed the Sunday brunch into the hall alongside the exhibition - at least it was dry and we had some outside tables.

Discussions aplenty

The display stimulated a large amount of discussion, local stories and more memories from visitors.

Spot Ron quiz

Ron offered to buy brunch for the first person to identify him amongst his follow 1945 school pupils - no one identified him.

Lots to talk about

Worlington residents discussing recent and historical events.

Winding down

The rains came as brunch was finishing and we ended the exhibition with a feeling of satisfaction at all the hard work coming to fruition.

The exhibition was produced by the history group comprising (in alphabetical order):

We want to thank all the local residents who agreed to be interviewed, and for supplying memories and photographs from the WWII era.

And a heartfelt thanks to all who gave up their time to attend the exhbition.

Original Exhibition Announcement

As part of the national VE Day 80th Anniversary celebrations the local history group are presenting a “Worlington in Wartime” exhibition in the Parish Hall on: Friday 9th and Saturday 10th May, 11am-4pm and during Sunday Brunch on the 11th May.

Come along to our Worlington at War exhibition and… find out who was living in your house in 1939 learn about the people behind the names on the war memorial read an evacuee’s memoir of her wartime in Worlington find out how many bombs dropped in Worlington and where the Searchlight camp was discover who was in Worlington’s Home Guard learn about wartime food rationing and try some tasty treats from wartime recipes FREE OF CHARGE – EVERYONE WELCOME!