WW2 Victory Celebrations

… from the Wychwoods Albums Archive

Lyneham Victory Party, 1945.
Lyneham Victory Party, 1945

The party was held by the Henman’s barn at the bottom of Lyneham. The helter-skelter and railway were familiar features at fetes.

Victory Party, Jubilee Lane, Milton, 1946

Religious services, tea parties, fancy dress parades, bonfires and fireworks, were all part of the celebrations that took place in the Wychwood villages on VE and VJ days, with a weekend of celebrations in Milton at the beginning of September 1945. On 8 May 1946, Milton Parish Council agreed to spend ‘a sum not exceeding £25 on Victory Celebrations’. On the official day, 8 June, the sports in Milton were rained off. John Rawlins remembers that to make up for the disappointment, he and the other children were taken the next week to see The Wizard of Oz at the New Cinema, Chipping Norton.

This is one of series of snapshots taken from the Society’s publications “The Wychwoods Albums”. These publications from the mid to late 1980s feature a variety of images of the Wychwoods, all of which deserve a place in our expanding online archive.

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WW1 Wychwoods Military | WW1 Wychwoods Memorabilia | Shipton WW1 Miscellany | St Michael’s Shipton Early 1900s | Early Prebendal Scenes| Shipton Court 1930s | Milton Scenes Early 1900s | Milton Social Activities | Farming Activities and People | Ascott Early 1900s | Leafield 1900s – 1930s | Fifield Residents Early 1900s | Idbury Early 1900s | Lyneham Miscellany| WW2 Evacuees | WW2 Wychwoods Home Front| WW2 Victory Celebrations|The First Wychwood Album