I am grateful to David Smythe for providing this photograph of the 1945 Peace street party in Lopen Road, Edmonton. By then, my mother, Florence Edith Clarke (born Cole), was married and had moved away, but there were still Cole relatives on the Huxley Estate, of which Lopen Road forms a part. In particular the family home of my cousin, Anne Cole, was still there. Although she was evacuated during the war to West Wratting, she was back for the Peace street party and is seated just below the first of the second group of adults. I understand that others in the photo include Sylvia Bately, Brian Bately, Beryl Sawyer and Jimmy & Betty Bilson - but I do not know where they are sitting.
Children's Peace Celebrations in 1945: the street party in Lopen Road, Edmonton (now Enfield). Click for a larger pictures from which you may be able to recognise neighbours.
The picture is a perfect companion for the one on this website for the World War One Lopen Road Peace Party. The houses appear to have changed little from my mother's time - see 116 Lopen Road in 1911. David Smythe believes that 116 Lopen Road is probably in this 1945 photo, because he remembers the direction from which it was taken.
Apparently a bomb dropped on Lopen Road during Word War Two, not far from No 116. The explosion lifted a section of kerbstone onto the bare roof rafters without breaking them. Remarkable! It left a great crater in the middle of the road. My mother, being married, had left by then although she was very much involved in another Edmonton bombing in Silver Street.
V J DAY*, 15 August 1945
We arrived at Southend later that day.
For once, people's faces were bright and gay.
Merriment showed and laughter abounded.
Out in the Thames victory sirens sounded.
Street lights came on for the first time in years.
As the need for blackout disappears.
That night we strolled along the prom.
The whole town turned out, a happy throng.
They danced in the streets to a lively band.
Some linking arms, others hand in hand.
Soldiers, sailors and airmen all joined in.
On everyone's face was a merry grin.
Relieved of the anguish of six years of war.
Two final blows put Japan on the floor.
Celebrations now over, though quite an affair.
There's work to be done, change is in the air.
extracted from a poem by Mike Swift
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*V J Day was Victory over Japan Day which effectively marked the end of World War II.
World War Two VE Day street party, Argyle Road, Edmonton, 1945. Photo courtesy of Peter Fletcher.
Click the photo for an enlargement in which you may be able to recognise relatives and friends.
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I am grateful to Andrew Dickson for supplying the following World War Two peace street party photograph from a part of Edmonton (now Enfield) on the opposite side of Silver Street. It was for children from Halsbury Road (which changed its name to Amersham Avenue) and the adjacent three roads of Harding Road, Tiverton Road and Giffard Road. The two adults in the centre, in the dark clothes, are Mr and Mrs Carr (with Andrew's mother behind her). Mrs Flowers of 2 Halsbury Road is on the right in the doorway. Andrew is sitting along the front with Ronald Flowers and Leslie Carr.
World War Two street peace party for Haselbury Road (which changed its name to Amersham Avenue) and the adjacent three roads of Harding Road, Tiverton Road and Giffard Road, Edmonton.
Click for a larger image.
See also my own street peace party in Edgware.
MORE ON THE HOME FRONT IN WORLD WAR TWO:
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overview
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the beginning
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the preparations in pictures
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air raids
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air raid shelters
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window protection against bomb blast
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evacuees
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blitz in north London
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mail from men serving overseas
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the fun side for children
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children's healthcare
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miscellaneous observations
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peace parties
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the aftermath
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memorials
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SEE ALSO
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Rationing
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See more about the period on the WORK & LEISURE menu.
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