We had a wonderful socially distanced celebration of this important anniversary in my street in Loughton, which was the case for many streets throughout the district of Epping Forest.

Like many others I was thinking in particular of my own family who were involved in the war. My late father in the first wave of the D Day landings and my late mother nursing injured civilians and fighter pilots in Wolverhampton.

But as a local councillor I was also thinking about two local residents in particular.

My 91 year old neighbour who is Dutch and was 16 when the war ended. Her six years of war in the Netherlands were not easy , particularly the final year. She told on me on this 75th anniversary that the whole experience had made her anti-war rather than anti-German, who in her words ‘were mainly just normal people who wanted nothing more than to go back home to their own families’. What lovely words and sentiments.

On this VE 75th anniversary I was also thinking of an elderly lady, long since deceased who I will always remember. An elderly lady I met for the first time in 1982 as a newly elected young councillor for the Loughton Broadway Ward . She was Mrs Eleanor Beeching who lived in Barrington Close in the old people bedsits/bungalows behind the Broadway. She would often talk to me about her East End blitz experiences including holding the hand of her dead husband under the rubble of her home.

It is very important that we always remember how much we owe the war generation in particular and the sacrifices they made for our freedoms today.

Stephen Murray

Loughton Roding Ward

Independent District and Town Councillor