SEVENTY years ago today, the war with Germany was all but over.

German armies had been surrendering on several fronts, prompting one York woman, Mary Hughes, to write to a friend on May 7: “We are all agog for the news now! It will no doubt be out by the time that you get this and we’ll be celebrating PEACE at last!”

He didn’t have long to wait. As David Rubinstein records in his excellent York in War and Peace, 1914- 1945, she wrote the very next day: “PEACE DECLARED’ at 3 o’clock by the Prime Minister!”

It was May 8, 1945: the day that has gone down in history as VE Day.

The people of York celebrated.

Mr Rubinstein quotes the Yorkshire Gazette, which reported that “the citizens made merry in celebrating their release from five years and eight months of war in Europe... The weather cleared and happy crowds thronged the streets, singing and enjoying themselves thoroughly.”

The Yorkshire Evening Press carried a photograph of excited crowds outside the de Grey Rooms, which had been adorned with pennants, Union Jack flags and a giant V for Victory.

‘Where York Made Revelry’ said the headline, while a caption beneath noted that “dance music was relayed to vast crowds outside the hall.”

Street parties were held across the city and in the suburbs, Mr Rubinstein writes, and sporting activities of all kinds were held. “In Stamford Bridge a cricket match was held between a side of men dressed as women and one of women dressed as men (The men won.)”

Fireworks and signalling cartridges let off at York Minster brightened the sky, and bonfires were also lit across the city.

Many houses, meanwhile, were decorated with lights in the form of a giant V.

Van Wilson, York’s best known oral historian, recorded her mother Alexina’s VE Day memories, which are duly reported in Mr Rubinstein’s book.

“On VE night, York really came alive,” Alexina recalled.

“Betty and I went into the Burton Stone which was filled with RAF boys buying all sorts of mixed drinks. We had a few, then decided to go on to a dance. There were victory dances at the Albany, the o-op and the Clifton ballroom, but as usual we preferred the de Grey Rooms.

York Press:
A VE Day street party in Burton Stone Lane, York

“Bert Keech’s band was playing there all week, and the atmosphere was electric.

All the windows were flung open, and people were dancing out into the street.” They are scenes that those who lived through them will surely never forget.

In Yesterday Once More, we have published a few VE Day photos over the last few weeks. Here, drawn from our archives, are a few more. We hope they will get you in the mood to celebrate the 70th anniversary later this week.

• York in War and Peace was published by Quacks Books last year.

York Press:
A boy dresses up as Hitler at a VE Day street party in Kingsway North, York