VE Day 2020 marked by All Saints’ Church

8 May 2020

The Covid19 health crisis and restrictions placed on meeting in public mean VE Day commemorations on this Bank Holiday Friday are very different to those originally planned. Rather than the street parties, concerts and church services we might have expected, the Nation has been urged to stay home and join in with online activities.

All Saints with Holy Trinity Church’s approach to the challenge has been to create a virtual community choir, inviting the people of Loughborough to record themselves singing the war-time song ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ on their own at home. Emma Trounson, Director of Mission through Music at the church, provided a backing track and tutorial video explaining what they needed to do.

Rector of All Saints, Revd Wendy Dalrymple, said: “Music is such a great way to lift people’s spirits and help us stay connected. Emma has been working hard on running choir rehearsals and producing music for our Sunday services but we wanted to do something for the whole community too.”

Over fifty local people from the ages of eight to eighty took part in the project. The clips they each recorded were spliced together into one film, which was released on VE Day.

You can watch the Virtual Community Choir for Loughborough for VE Day singing together here.

Commemorations at All Saints in previous times have taken a more traditional turn, with an 11 o’clock civic service by the British Legion and the Rev Stephen Cherry part of town-wide events for the 50th anniversary in 1995. A commemorative waste bin was also placed in the churchyard to mark that anniversary, which can still be seen (and used!) today.

Compiled by Alison Mott

Contact music@allsaintsloughborough.org.uk for information on future ‘Music at All Saints’ projects.