80th Anniversary of VE Day Celebrations in the Market Square in Lichfield. (Thur 8th May 2025)

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Today (or actually yesterday because it's after midnight), I went down town for the 80th Anniversary of VE Day Celebrations in the Market Square in Lichfield. My Mum went to the Doctors again, her friend Dawn took her again, so she went out before I did. I watched a little bit of the 80th Anniversary of VE Day celebrations on the telly before I went out too. It was about 11:50am when I set off. I didn't need the trolley, because I wasn't buying anything to put in it, so I just went with my walking stick. I walked round the top path round Stowe Pool as usual. I went to the toilet by the Cathedral as soon as got into town. Then I went and looked at the craft market by Minster Pool. After that I went to the photo expert shop and got some photos printed. I didn't need the trolley to put them in, they fit just fine in my handbag. When I'd done that I went back to the market square. It was about 12:45pm by now, and there was a long queue for the fish and chip van, so I joined the end of it. I was waiting in the queue for 10 minutes flat, and my feet were starting to hurt! At last I got to the front of the queue and ordered a large fish and mushy peas. It said on the board that fish cost £3 and mushy peas were £1, but she only charged me £3 for the lot, so I got the mushy peas for free! I went and found a seat on the picnic benches that they'd out out in the Market Square and ate my fish and mushy peas, but sometimes it was a bit hard to pick it up with the little wooden fork they give you, and I sometimes had to resort to picking it up with my fingers! There were some "kindness rocks" on the tables that you could take and either keep or hide for someone else to find. They were all decorated with VE Day images. Some had a union Jack on and 1945 on one side and 2025 on the other. On the back (or bottom if you like) it said Lichfield Kindness Rocks and then an f for Facebook. I took a really large one to give to my Mum, and two smaller ones for me. At approx 1:00pm, the entertainments started. A fella came round and gave a song sheet to anyone who wanted one. It had all kinds of 40s songs on It, like The White Cliffs of Dover and We'll Meet Again, plus lots more, some of which I didn't know. So we had a sing song all afternoon with this chap leading. He was very funny. There were these three girls (well, ladies) dancing and he called them Dilly, Dolly and Dally from Kanuk. (They were actually form Cannock!) When we'd exhausted all the 40s songs, he asked for requests. Somebody requested S Club 7! He said, That's not very 40s! But we sang Reach for the stars anyway! Then that degenerated into Abba, David Essex, Sweet Caroline, Come on Eileen, agadoo, YMCA and the conga! In the end my bum was getting a bit sore from sitting on the picnic bench. Fortunately, someone had out out some nice comfy red chairs for people to sit on who couldn't get a space on a picnic bench, so when one of those became free I went and sat on one of those. There was a black guy in some regalia who said he didn't live in Lichfield, but he came down to do this, and they weren't paying him! Later he was passing out small union Jack flags so I had one of those. At nearly 4:00pm, the guy changed into regal costume (see picture), and gave a little speech about why we were there. Then they played The Last Post. There was a dog infront of the picnic bench infront of me who took exception to The Last Post! He started growling! When we were having the two minutes silence, I could here this rumbling noise, and I thought, What's that? It was the dog growling! Eventually they had to take him away! Then we had the Death will not weary them speech, and then Ian Hayter who used to be the Minister at Wade Street Church got up and said a prayer to finish, which I video'd for my YouTube channel. At the end the guy who'd been leading us in the sing song said we could go up to get a photo of all the dignitaries if we liked and I thought great. But could I unlock my tablet? When you turn the tablet on from being on standby, there's a little padlock in the middle of the screen at the bottom, and you slide up on that to get it to unlock, but it would not do it! I had to go and sit down on a picnic bench again while I tried to unlock my tablet! Eventually it did it (phew!) and I went and got my picture. (See above). After that I went to the toilet by the Cathedral again, (I can't believe I lasted from 12:00pm - 4:00pm without going to the loo!) and then I went home. When I got home I told my Mum all about it, gave her her kindness rock, and showed her the song sheet we got given. Later I showed her some pictures I'd taken, including the one above, and Ian Hayter's prayer video! What have you lot been getting up to today? I hope you are all well. Have a great night. Nos da.