A SERVICE of Commemoration, to mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day, will be held in Pershore Abbey.

It will take place on Friday May 8 and will feature pupils of Abbey Park Middle School, local Second World War veterans, the Pershore and District Branch of the Royal Navy Association and local members of the Royal British Legion.

The event is being organised by Trudy Burge, Honorary Secretary of Pershore's RNA and Poppy Appeal Committee, the group which worked closely with the school last year, to mark the Centenary of the First World War.

Mrs Burge said: "The basis of the service will be the children telling the story of both national and local events from the end of the First World War up to the end of the Second World War. They will remind us of the 102 local men who fell during the Great War, before taking us briefly through Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power.

She added: "Their story will include the Land Army and the importance of all the local farming and market gardening in the area which kept the country fed in times of strict rationing and German bombing of the Merchant Navy ships. It will also include the Home Guard, local defences against invasion and all the men and women who helped the war effort by joining the armed forces or working in munition factories. They will talk of all the evacuees that came to the area to reflect on how they would feel if they were sent away from their own homes. Some of the children will be dressed up in various parts to do some re-enactment."

The importance of RAF Defford and RADAR will be remembered as well as RAF Comberton and RAF Pershore will be remembered for its training of commonwealth pilots which saw most of the war graves appear in Pershore's cemetery.

Mr Burge said: "Events leading to the end of the War with VE Day, VJ Day and the Cold War will be commemorated with patriotic songs and flag waving as the children pay tribute to all those who sacrificed so much to ensure the freedom they enjoy today. Pershore and District Branch RBL and RNA will also join in the formal act of Remembrance of the 24 people from the town who fell during the conflict before the service concludes with some of the Remembrance poems written by the children last year.

"Seating in the Abbey will unfortunately be very limited due to the whole school being involved so the event will be by invitation only but we hope to include as veterans as possible - in particular those who served during the Second World War."

Anyone with photographs or stories of Pershore people or the town during 1939-1945 which they would be willing to share with the children as they learn about the Second World War, should contact Mrs Burge on Trudy.burge@gmail.com or write to her at 18 Church Street, Pershore, Worcestershire, WR10 1DT.