A wonderfully evocative WW2 document can be seen at Kendal Archive Centre, home of our county’s archives, based in County Offices.

Sturdy but yellowing pages contain precious VE Day memories of pupils from Castle Street school.

‘This is VE Day’ I heard it on the wireless’, wrote one excited child in their ‘VE Day Magazine’. It was edited by pupils E. Sagar and J. Eyre and has hand-written contributions and illustrations from over 25 scholars.

The illustrations were in wax crayon and include numerous celebratory bonfires, many with Hitler effigies on top.

Lorries and other vehicles of the time were drawn by the boys, and girls depicted young women wearing the unmistakeably 1940s dresses, shoes and in some cases, hats, with which they were familiar. There are also lively pictures of houses and public buildings decorated for VE Day with flags, lights and flowers.

Ruth Fisher wrote ‘dawn on VE Day was beautiful with the sun shining on all the flags and flood lights. The people of Kendal had been very busy the last few days hunting out all their old flags and patching them up’.

The children, too, were in a frenzy of activity. Brian Gass recalled collecting wood, six rubber tyres and other material for a VE Day bonfire. Douglas Muff wrote on the day before VE day they went to Spital Woods for some bluebells (no doubt the flowers were going to be much in demand for patriotic colour schemes).

One child mentioned that 10 gallons of oil were put on their bonfire; others mentioned mishaps with burned telegraph wires and Pamela Thompson mentioned a shrivelled lilac tree and raspberry canes.

Peter Cannon wrote that when their bonfire was burning low they ‘went to the Nags Head Hotel for some pop but the lady who gave us it said we could keep the money’.

Emily Sagar recorded that Kendal Town Hall was illuminated with many coloured fairy lamps, and in the streets below were ‘admiring crowds’.

J. Ediss noted ‘even the Chief Constable was dancing in front of the Town Hall' . Another child commented it was ‘so well lit, it was just like day light’.

The Parish Church, War Memorial and County Buildings were all floodlit. At Abbot Hall there were fairy lanterns and dancing went on ‘far into the night’. Mary Major says that the County Buildings were decorated pink, white and blue (with lights) and the parish church was a white glow.

R. Gill mentioned Musgroves was decorated with an English lion covered in the Union Jack.

On a domestic note, Pat Miller recorded that her ‘mammy’ was in the middle of cleaning the living room on VE Day, Daddy came home for two days and they had tinned pears for tea.

One child probably spoke for them all when he said he ‘went to bed happy that night and slept well’.