Town centre 'knees-up' to be held for the 80th anniversary of VE Day

The free event, on Bank Holiday Monday May 5, will be in Market Place and there will be live music entertaining the revellers throughout, including tunes from the 1940s.

All are invited to attend the party, which will start at 11.30am and run through to 4pm.

Sharon Butcher, one of the organisers, said: “We will be having an old-fashioned Knees-up Mother Brown street party .

“There will be food and pop for everyone, young or old, so we are asking people to please turn up and join in with the music and the atmosphere.

“We want everyone to bring their flags and hats.

“There will be some chairs and tables but we advise people to please bring their deck chairs in case they are all taken.”

Representative of Melton BID, the 1940s Melton Mowbray event and Melton Mowbray Town Estate have joined forces to organise the celebration.

Organisers have thanked the sponsors – the local Morrisons, Tesco, Iceland and Sainsbury's stores, plus The Grapes pub, where staff will be making sandwiches for the bash.

Street parties and community celebrations are also being organised throughout the Melton borough, from Thursday May 8 – the actual date in 1945 when VE Day (Victory in Europe) was declared at the end of the Second World War.

Most of the events are scheduled for the following weekend – May 10 and 11 – when the annual 1940s Melton Mowbray event will also take place in the town.

It was named Best Free Event at the 2024 Leicestershire Tourism and Hospitality Awards and is expected to attract thousands of nostalgia lovers again this year.

One of the new features this year is a screening of war films on a big screen during the day in Play Close Park.

A wartime-themed dance will be held in the town’s British Legion Club on the Saturday night.

There will also be all the usual attractions of displays, demonstrations, vintage stalls and live music from the era.