{"id":56447,"date":"2025-05-08T10:28:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=56447"},"modified":"2025-05-19T14:29:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T14:29:58","slug":"sheffield-remembers-wartime-stories-to-mark-ve-days-80th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/05\/08\/sheffield-remembers-wartime-stories-to-mark-ve-days-80th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield remembers: Wartime stories for VE Day’s 80th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the nation today (Thursday 8 May) marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, Sheffielders\u2019 share their experiences from family members who participated in the war effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

73-year-old Anne-Marie Appleton from Crosspool told of her mother, Muriel Goddard (n\u00e9e White), who at 17 worked in a wartime factory making steel plates for aircraft and ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs Appleton said she was \u2018proud\u2019 of her mother\u2019s contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cIt was a time when everybody worked together and she made a lot of friendships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muriel\u2019s experiences are documented in Michelle Rawlins\u2019 book \u201cWomen of Steel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle said: “It is important we remember this remarkable generation. They played a vital part in the war effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir contribution should never be forgotten.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs Appleton also recalled her mother saying she could \u2018see the bombs falling on Sheffield\u2019 during the Blitz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the nights of 12 and 15 December 1940, Sheffield experienced the horrors of German Luftwaffe bombing, killing 700 people and destroying 82,000 homes.  \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Birch Road, Attercliffe after air raid. Photo: www.picturesheffield.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Mark Hunter, 64, from Hunters Borough, he said it\u2019s a \u2018bloody great big sigh of relief\u2019 that his whole family survived the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother, Ivy Hunter, joined the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and her brothers Alan and Cyril, also served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Hunter said: \u201cWith some of the stories you hear of other people who have parents who served in the war, they never really bothered to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Sheffield Cathedral will join other cathedrals around England in a coordinated ringing of bells at 6.30pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Kurtis Crossland, Chair of the Communities, Parks and Leisure Committee at Sheffield City Council said: \u201cThe 80th anniversary of VE Day gives local communities across Sheffield the chance to come together and remember the sacrifices made during WW2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important we continue to honour those who served in the war and their bravery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People were encouraged to celebrate on Bank Holiday Monday (5 May) with several street parties taking place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapeltown Library hosted a talk on WW2 in Ecclesfield Parish on Tuesday (6 May) and a special 80th anniversary event titled \u2018Amazing Afternoon Cabaret with Gary and Lorrie’ was hosted at Sheffield\u2019s Moor Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 An exhibition at the Central Library is on display between May and August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"
Central Library VE Day exhibition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the nation today (Thursday 8 May) marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, Sheffielders\u2019 share their experiences from family members who participated in the war effort. 73-year-old Anne-Marie Appleton from Crosspool told of her mother, Muriel Goddard (n\u00e9e White), who at 17 worked in a wartime factory making steel plates for aircraft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":56451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,132,4],"tags":[12,1019,1018,714],"class_list":["post-56447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-top-stories","category-top-story","tag-sheffield","tag-sheffield-blitz","tag-ve-day","tag-war-memorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56447"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57344,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56447\/revisions\/57344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}