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The Community Radio Station covering Central-Southern Dorset, run by volunteers and not-for-profit

Dorchester’s Beacon is lit to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day following readings of local memories

In Dorchester celebrations on the 8th May marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day culminated in the lighting of the Beacon located in Salisbury Field with a large crowd looking on.

Before that at 8:15 pm there was entertainment from the Dorset based vintage singing group The Decadettes, who performed a set of 1940s music, and readings of local memories of that special day in 1945 by the As One Theatre Company.

Just before 9:30pm the town crier Mr Anthony Harrison read the VE Day Tribute at the same time as the Tribute was read out in communities across the United Kingdom.

Then young local bugler, Joe Ansell, performed the Last Post just as the town’s Beacon was lit by the Mayor Cllr Robin Potter.

You can listen to a recording of the occasion here: The VE Day 80 Beacon lighting event in Dorchester

Photos by Andy Worth (click to enlarge)

The Beacon alight in Salisbury Field

The Beacon alight in Salisbury Field