Next month will see the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day - the official end of the Second World War.

At midnight on May 8, 1945, the guns finally fell silent in Europe after five long years of war.

VE Day celebrates the formal acceptance by the Allies of the Second World War of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of armed forces.

Street parties were held across Dorset with everyone coming together to join in the celebrations.

A big celebration was held in Weymouth's Hope Square outside the Red Lion pub and a huge knees-up was held at the Sidney Hall in Weymouth.

Born during the war, Esmee Nicholls of Weymouth was just four years old on VE Day.

"I don't really remember much about the end of the war itself," she said. "It had been going on my whole life, and I didn't know anything else."

She does, however, recall the party that took place at the Sidney Hall.

"The VE Day party was for local people, or at least the ones that lived on Tennyson Road, Bradford Road and parts of Chickerell Road," Esmee said. "It was the only venue that was big enough to cope with all the bands. I remember feeling very claustrophobic and having people pushing me around. And there was a man a few rows in front of me who just wouldn't stop singing!"

A special party was held by Weymouth council for children from Chapelhay, also in Sidney Hall. Chapelhay was one of the worst affected areas in the conflict. Some 500 bombs rained on Weymouth in the war and one landmine practically demolished the whole of Chapelhay.

The area was bombed on Sunday, December 17, 1940 at 9pm - two parachute mines were dropped, one in the Chapelhay area and one in Bincleaves Road.

Sadly planned celebrations due to take place locally and across the UK in May 2020 have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic,

The latest advice is for members of the public to temporarily cancel all planned VE Day celebrations. Until more is known, for now, it’s thought that all former VE Day plans will be moved to be celebrated on the weekend of August 15 to16, to coincide with VJ Day – which commemorates the surrender of Imperial Japan during the Second World War.

However, we still want to hear your VE Day memories or memories of your relatives in time for the milestone anniversary on May 8, 2020.

Are you one of the NHS workers or key workers currently keeping the country going during the coronavirus pandemic? If so we'd love to hear from you if you also have relatives who served in the war or did their bit on the home front.

Send memories from yourself or your relatives to us, including war stories and those of descendants involved in the efforts helping in today's coronavirus crisis and we'll feature them in the Dorset Echo.

Email joanna.davis@dorsetecho.co.uk or call 01305 830999.