A national celebration of the 75th Anniversary of VE Day was to take place on Friday 8th May this year. The normal Monday May Bank Holiday was moved to the Friday to accommodate this special event.

However, due to the current pandemic the national event has been cancelled.

Aycliffe Town Centre Management and Aycliffe Radio had organised a day of 1940s music and displays from our local armed services including the 124 Recovery Company, the 201 Field Hospital Unit, the 102 Battalion (Territorial Army) and the town’s 1407 Air Cadets.

Although we are hoping to reschedule the celebration to Saturday 15th August (VJ Day), Newton News and Aycliffe Radio are to commemorate VE Day in their own way.

Todays edition of the Newton News will look back at Newton Aycliffe in the 1940s, focussing mainly only the Royal Ordnance Factory and the Aycliffe Angels, who were working in Aycliffe during the war time period.

We will pay homage to the Angels and inform readers of what it is was they did during their time at the Royal Ordnance Factory.

Aycliffe Radio will be commencing a new day time show aimed at the over 70s which will be entitled “Memory Lane”. This show will concentrate on music from the 1940s and 1950s.

The new show will start on Friday 8th May at 1.00pm with a three hour special and will continue weekdays from 1.00pm to 2.00pm. The presenter for this show will announce birthday and anniversary dedications on a Monday for those celebrating that week.