The 8th May 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day at the end of the Second World War.
The Government has announced that all public houses can stay open two hours beyond the normal closing time on Thursday 8th May, so into the early hours of Friday morning. We believe there is a case for marking the event in other ways.
The Deacons of Shipley Baptist Church have agreed we will open our Worship Room from 4.00pm – 7.30pm on Thursday 8th May to provide opportunity for people to come in and give quiet thanks for the peace which came to Europe after a dreadful war.
The events of VE Day provided a time of peace in Europe which remained largely unbroken until the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It will also give opportunity for people to remember those who died during the 1939- 1945 war in the cause to defeat fascism.
We will create a space for quiet reflection and on the hour and half hour having a short, formal, time of prayer.
We also will arrange to have a large paper on which we could record the names of all those people our community who played a part in bringing peace to Europe – soldiers, sailors, RAF personnel , Home Guard, air raid wardens, medical personnel, land girls etc. We will also have space for a small display of memorabilia from families.
We believe this will be an appropriate way to provide opportunity for people in Shipley to mark this historic event.
This is an advance notice and more information will be provided in due course.
– Shipley Baptist Church Diaconate