A community remembers: Haywards Heath retirees mark VE Day 80th anniversary

It started with two residents (David King and Ray Russell) asking the other residents to record their memories and/or experiences of V. E. Day. This quickly expanded into personal memories of the period 1939 to 1946 which have provided many surprises from a community of less than 100 people.

• There are experiences of both adults and children of the time from many parts of the U.K., some happy, some tragic.
• Family tragedies
• Memories of living in Germany and escape from Austria.
• Children parted and living in a different Country from their parents for the duration.

The contributions from a majority of residents have been collated into a single binder comprising over 100 A4 pages and form a fascinating insight into the memories from the time, by those who were there.

The stimulation from the above memory activity, in many cases provoked searches for lost or missing items of memorabilia, books, photographs, and other items of interest from the era including a carefully researched tray demonstrating a weekly food ration for 1940. These have been combined with a model railway layout representing the period to form an exhibition of some merit which will no doubt provoke more memories from the Hurst Place Community and its visitors and friends.