A TALK at the National Memorial Arboretum will shine a spotlight on the lives of ordinary people on the home front during a key year in the Second World War.
Prof Maggie Andrews will explore how 1945 marked a year of transition as the Home Guard had been stood down and men in the forces began to return home.
A spokesperson for the National Memorial Arboretum said:
“The British population greeted VE Day and VJ Day with joy and celebration, but this was also tinged with a sense of trepidation.
“Six years of war had taken a terrible toll on the population on the home front who had endured bombing, rationing and shortages. To their dismay, austerity became more severe following VJ Day, when bacon and lard rations were reduced.
“Many families had been fractured by the conflict. Men and women had been away from their homes for long periods of time, in armed forces or working in war industries, while hundreds of thousands of children had been evacuated.
“How and where could these families be put back together? For the lucky few, one of the newly constructed prefabs – or people’s palaces as they were called – would offer a home of their own. But most would not be so lucky as there was an acute shortage of houses with over a million homes destroyed or damaged in London alone.
“Consequently, many families found the return to domestic life far from peaceful.
The talk takes place at 11.30am on 16th July. For booking details visit the National Memorial Arboretum website.