With VE Day events and street parties cancelled or postponed Ilkley residents are being invited to make and display bunting outside their home, business or in their streets to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE & VJ Day, whilst also paying tribute to those now working to keep the nation safe during the global Coronavirus pandemic.
The team behind the Ilkley Sewing Scrubs group has captured the community spirit of their incredibly successful project to launch a new a ‘Bunting for Heroes past and present’ initiative to get the whole town involved in making and displaying bunting over the weekend of VE day, 8 – 10 May.
Organiser Amanda Danells-Bewley says “This is an unprecedented time in our history and we wanted to mark the occasion of the VE anniversary, share our community's pride in our country and honour the men and women of WW2, as well as the dedication and commitment of our modern day heroes in our midst.
Currently our lives are shaped by the acts, kindness and sometimes selflessness of others. By asking the town to fly bunting outside their homes, business, schools and in their streets, we hope that we can create a very visible way of acknowledging the dedication of those who have given service to others.”
Ilkley District Councillor Anne Hawkesworth said: “This is about celebrating Heroes Past Heroes Present. The aspiration is to give hope and a bit of cheer to the Town. Back in 1945 there was celebration of Freedom and families being together again, that is something we all are needing 75 years on.”
The Ilkley Sewing Scrubs group has now made up and delivered over 300 sets of scrubs for clinicians and now will also be making bunting for community groups and businesses to display around the town.
For those wanting to make their own bunting the group is able to provide materials including fabric and tapes, and instructions for ‘no sew’ options.
Amanda added “The scrubs sewing project has been a great success and we hope we can continue the fantastic community spirit that has grown out of it. Making bunting is one way that families including young children can do something safely in their own homes during the Coronavirus crisis, offering everyone in our community a way of saying thank you to our country’s heroes; remembering times past, continuing to give thanks and find hope in the present.”
Anyone wanting to get involved with the project, or would like bunting lengths for their business or organisation in Ilkley can email mrs.DB@outlook.com or download instructions for making bunting at:http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/england/pdf/ve_day_great_british_bunting_instructions.pdf
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