‘We just went wild’: how children celebrated cakes and peace on VE Day

Sylvia Yarwood, Peter Bourne, Gary Garfoot, Pamela Attrill all had different experiences of VE Day (Picture: Solent News/Supplied)

Peter Bourne was just a child when he witnessed an RAF pilot eject from a fighter jet, only to be shot to pieces in mid-air.

But as large swathes of the country were celebrating VE Day in 1945 that haunting image was all the 10-year-old could think about.

Peter, now 91, and the rest of his traumatised local community in Hurst Green, East Sussex,...