This Friday is VE Day. VE Day stands for Victory in Europe Day, which took place on Tuesday, May 8 in 1945, 75 years ago. 1 million people celebrated in Britain on that day. The day was a public holiday, where people sang and danced outside their homes, and held street parties. There were big crowds in London where Winston Churchill (the then Prime Minister) and King George the VI came out to the Buckingham Palace balcony no less than 7 times to greet the people.
75 years on, Remembrance 2020 is focusing on ‘remembering the impact that leaving, absence and coming home have on servicemen and women, and their loved ones – then and now’.
Take You Home
BBC Teach Bring The Noise, in collaboration with the National Memorial Arboretum, in Staffordshire, have launched a song called Take You Home to help us reflect on the impact that leaving, missing and coming home had on those who served and their loved ones.
Laura White, the composer and singer for Take You Home, says: "I wanted something that made your heart fly when you heard it."
You can listen to the song in the Bring the Noise player and you can also experiment with the different layers of the song:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/bring-the-noise?exitGameUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbbc.co.uk%2Fteach%2Fbring-the-noise%2Feyfs-ks1-music-play-it-bring-the-noise%2Fz4sq92p
On this page, you can watch a video of Laura share her inspiration behind the song and tips on how to write and perform your own song.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/bring-the-noise/ve-day-2020/zksjjhv
More listening and watching:
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
Swing dancing was very popular during war time. Here is a fun boogie woogie dance to watch: