Helen Andrews hitched from Bletchley Park to Trafalgar Square to celebrate
I was working at Bletchley Park when we found out the war had ended. A bloke came into the room where we were working and said, “It’s all over. They’ve surrendered”. The atmosphere was festive, marvellous, a wonderful thing to remember. We had a tea party, a little crowd of us, and music and dancing afterwards. We were so pleased it was all over, the anxiety and the worry.
I was stationed near London, so I was able to get into Trafalgar Square. Two or three of us went together and we had a lovely time. I was still at Bletchley, because we hadn’t closed yet, so we hitchhiked a lift. We all did it then because apart from the difficulty of travelling petrol was scarce too, so the drivers didn’t mind picking us up.
“Millions of people were singing, dancing and having a wonderful time”
Trafalgar Square on VE Day – my dear! Millions of people all singing and dancing and having a wonderful time and thinking how nice it was that the war was over. Princess Elizabeth and Margaret were in the crowd, they’d been allowed to mingle with us for the day because it was such a special occasion. There was lots of dancing and noise and people climbed up lampposts and the Nelson’s column. Some people had something to drink, which all added to the tremendously festive atmosphere, some jumped in the fountains! Churchill came out I didn’t see him because we were in this huge crowd, but we knew there were important people amongst us. We sang Auld Lang Syne with arms linked. It was bonding and very lively!
We spent most of the day gallivanting around Trafalgar Square and London, and had tea in one of the cafes. We got home at about midnight – usually there was a curfew, but nobody minded for once.
