09 May 2025
Highfield Park joined in a ceremony which saw more than 1,000 beacons being lit nationwide to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
The event, which took place at 9.30pm across the country, was organised by Highfield Park Trust and attended by St Albans Mayor Cllr Jamie Day and Town Crier Stephen Potter.
Tim Abbott, chair of the trust, said afterwards: “Although a relatively simple event, our beacon lightings are incredibly important and we always strive to get the tone right.
“Previous lightings have been commemorations, VE Day 80 was a celebration of Victory in Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. Our preparations this year were again thorough and we introduced some music from the 1940s and sold cider (Drink for Victory) and nonalcoholic apple cocktails (A Winston Warrior, Blow It Out Your Barracks, Six and Twenty Tootsie Tonic or Hubba Hubba One and Only) to lift the atmosphere. Of course all the apples were grown in our own orchards.
“We asked our community to provide pictures and tell the stories of a relative of lived through the wartime years. There some remarkable contributions, including a submariner who piloted the midget submarine that sunk a German harbour off Bergen in Norway. Something I will now read up on!
“Special thanks should go to Trust employees Sarah Shah, who acted as the event director and Lee Allen, who lit the beacon, whilst we listened to Winston Churchill’s VE Day speech. Our neighbour, Chris, managed the audio.
“At the end of the evening we received so many thanks and positive comments and I know the team were very pleased that all their hard work had been recognised.”
Similar beacon lightings took place on Harpenden and Redbourn Commons at the same time, followed by communal singing of I Vow To Thee My Country.
