The Day the Country Went Mad

The Day the Country Went Mad

Tuesday 8th May 1945

On that never-to-be forgotten day everyone was ecstatic and could not contain their feelings of joy at the news that six years of war had come to an end at last. It had gone on so long that many people had almost forgotten what pre-war conditions were like.

I remember the day very well. I was 16 years old and my pal and I belonged to the youth club in the nearby village of Leigh where we met every Monday evening. Dancing and games were organised and it was very nice to go there if only to hear the latest Glenn Miller record being played on the gramophone.

On Monday 7th May we went there and found that a treasure hunt had been organised. We all set off on our bikes and cycled through the lanes picking up the clues that would take us on to the next one. We eventually finished up back at the youth club soon after nine o’clock when it was announced that the war was over. We really danced for joy!

.Although we did not know it, the following day, the 8th had been declared a national holiday so we all went in to work as usual only to be asked why we had turned up. I worked as a gardener at a very large house in Reigate at that time so after lettings the chickens, feeding the dog and taking him for a walk I was told to go home.

About seven o’clock that evening I called on my pal and we decided to go into Reigate town to see what was happening there. The Market Square was full of people and after a little while some music started to play. I think someone had brought a gramophone along with a lot of records. Whatever, it was just what we needed to get the party going.

The music played all the popular tunes and everyone danced to them. The dances were either waltzes, foxtrots or quicksteps and the occasional Paul Jones where the men formed a circle and the ladies formed another circle inside them. The circles went round in opposite directions and when the music stopped your partner for the next dance was the person immediately in front of you. I remember that most of the ladies there were ATS girls who were stationed in Reigate. In fact, some of them were girls who were stationed in the large house where I was working so I danced with them most of the evening.

After a while a few young tearaways including me decided it would be a good idea to have a bonfire going in front of the old town hall so we went round the back o some of the shops in the High Street and collected boxes and any other inflammable material we could lay our hands on. I remember going round the back of Sainsbury’s which was approximately where Toni & Guy are now. There were piles of empty boxes there so we helped ourselves to them and these kept the bonfire going well into the night.

On the way to work the following morning I went through the Market Square and there were council workmen filling in a large hole that had been burnt in the road by the bonfire. I heard one man say to another “If I could lay my hands on the chap that did this I would give him what for”. I said nothing and hurried on to work!

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