Savvy owner of the Over the Moon Party Shop in Pevensey Bay, Hazel Lee, is researching ways in which on VE Day 75, 8 May 2020, she can deck the boughs of community halls in the locality in bunting.
The new Bank Holiday weekend is designated by the Government between 8-10 May this year. Winston Churchill on VE Day said “”My dear friends, this is your hour.”
When VE Day dawns on 8 May 2020 it will be 75 years since the guns fell silent at the end of the war in Europe. Years of carnage and destruction had come to an end and millions of people took to the streets and pubs to celebrate peace, mourn their loved – ones and to hope for the future.
A new government website says, “it will be an opportunity for us all to remember the enormous sacrifices that were made at home and abroad and to joyously celebrate as people did 75 years ago, the arrival of peace in Europe.
Friday 8 May 2020 will see licensing hours extended to enable as many towns, parishes, district, community and other councils, along with individuals, voluntary organisations, the holiday and hospitality industry including pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels, to join in the VE Day 75 celebrations.
Here in Pevensey Bay, Pevensey, Westham, Normans Bay and the locality, the homegrown response planned will see a variety of events.
Already linked in the locality are 14 venues with various tributes and themed events planned.
The Over the Moon Party Shop in Pevensey Bay, which wins praise with social media comment that emphasises the warmth and quality of service that the shop offers, is to consider making a contribution to the VE Day 75 with a local tailor-made bunting service.
The shop caters for all party and celebration needs and stocks a large range of helium balloons, fancy dress, banners, decorations and tableware.
The offering with VE Day 75 bunting is likely to be delivered with the same warmth and quality of service that marks out what the staff do with the delivery of all their popular offerings.
Their contribution with VE Day 75 bunting could well help to see the locality light up on the day that the guns fell silent in Europe.
On Friday (31 January), Hazel Lee and her staff, together with a number of residents, discussed the possibilities with what might be on offer.
Other parts of the country are likely to see bunting of all kinds. Part of the plan by the Over the Moon Party Shop is to see that particular specialist VE Day 75 bunting, bedecks the boughs of the community.
There may be three options avaiable to buy at cost effective prices.
The ‘home front’ option, a length to fit a house front, could see the Eastbourne Road lined in trails of glory to passing pedestrians and cars. The ‘pub and grub’ option could see local hostelries with lengths measured and tailormade to fit for specific saloon bars and restaurants and a third option ‘deck the halls’, could see an option that is sized to fit the length and breadth of specific local community halls.
Alongside the ‘pub and grub’ option and the ‘deck the halls’ option, consideration is also to be given to supplying with the bunting, large billboard images as a backdrop, of some of the scenes of jubilation that were witnessed on VE Europe Day in 1945.
The idea is that 100 large billboards will be produced ready for the purpose by a local specialist design company. The VE Day 75 celebration kits, in various lengths and options with and without billboards may be available to order from early March.
The profile for the locality on VE Day 75 could have a co-ordinated distinct flair, which might prove to be useful to our visitor footprint.
Original themed events dotted through the local hospitality industry over the weekend, with visitors choosing their pick, guided by the special bunting and billboards that give the ‘Pevensey VE Day 75 stamp’ to the places that are part of the proceedings, is one possible approach to the profiling of events.
The delights on offer and where events are taking place would all then be visible in seconds to visitors.
Talking about the plans to deliver specialist, custom made bunting and billboards, for the VE Day 75 Weekend, owner of the Over the Moon Party Shop in Pevensey Bay, Hazel, Lee, told the Pevensey Bay Journal (Friday 31 January), ‘will look into this after this weekend, will let you know Monday what I find out and then get some in as samples’.
One of the first hostelries to buy into the specialist bunting kits idea, is likely to be the Smugglers in Pevensey, which is to put on an ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) inspired Camp Show that weekend.
Owners at the public house have already indicated to the Journal their interest in bunting as being part of what they intend to offer in tribute, on the day the guns fell silent in Europe and millions of people took to the streets in this country in celebration.
The weekend in the locality, complete perhaps with special buntings and billboards, is to be documented by photojournalist, Steve Malone, who works with a number of local news outlets.
Over the Moon Party Shop
2 North Road, Pevensey Bay
01323 325050
www.overthemoonpartyshop.co.uk
