The paper is faded and discoloured by time. But the headlines leap out as vividly today as they would have 66 years ago.

“Total surrender likely at any hour” screams the one on the front page of the May 4, 1945 edition of the Yorkshire Evening Press.

“Total surrender of the German army may come at any hour,” reads the story beneath.

“There is no line and no front left anywhere and surrender talks are going on at a high level all the time.”

Elsewhere on the front page is a picture of York Minster.

“Many York citizens feel there should be some illuminations on VE night,” says the caption. “A special VE-Day thanksgiving service will be held in the Minster, and the bells will give an hour’s peal.”

By May 7, the newspaper was reporting on how Allied forces were speeding to the help of Prague. But on May 8 – VE Day itself – there was a sober reminder.

“Japan is still to be subdued,” said the front page headline. Beneath it, the newspaper reported: “Mr Churchill, officially referring to the end of the war in Europe, stated in his broadcast to the nation this afternoon: ‘We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing, but let us not forget for a moment the evils still ahead – Japan, with all her treachery and greed, remains unsubdued’.”

We have Press reader Dave Mackay to thank for bringing us this wonderful collection of old newspapers. They cover the period from May 4 to May 10, 1945, as the war in Europe finally came to an end after nearly six years.

“Dunkirk and Channel Isles Surrender,” reads the main headline on May 10.

When these newspapers were originally published he was just two years old, admits Dave, 67, from Sherburn-in-Elmet. So he can’t personally recollect any of the amazing scenes of celebration that took place around the country. But he loves the glimpse the newspapers give of the way the end of the war was greeted in York and North Yorkshire.

The retired self-employed steel fixer stumbled across them tucked away in an old suitcase in the loft of a friend’s house in Doncaster Road, Selby, that he was clearing out.

“I thought they were smashing,” he says. “And my friend said: ‘if you want them, take them!’”

The account of the ending of the war contained in these pages is riveting, Dave says. But he also loves the adverts, which give a vivid picture of life at the time.

“Go Modern with Mirro, the Safe, Speedy Cleanser,” reads one, on the very same page as that ‘Total surrender at any hour’ headline. The advert shows a drawing of a pretty housewife in a pinafore. “Look!” she says. “My pans shine in half the time!”

There’s also an advert for oranges. “Four shillings each!” says Dave, with a true Yorkshireman’s horror. “You can get them cheaper than that now!”