British church bells ring out in VE Day celebrations
AFP
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM- Cathedrals and churches across Britain rang their bells on Saturday as part of the three-day commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day).
Bells rang out at 1000 GMT to symbolise the end of WWII and recall the moment that churches could sound their chimes following six years of silence.
London's St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey joined in the tribute while the HMS Ocean, one of the Royal Navy's largest ships, sounded its horn.
Celebrations carried on into the evening with a concert at Horse Guards Parade in London, including performances from opera diva Katherine Jenkins, pop singer Pixie Lott and veteran rockers Status Quo.
Hundreds of spectators waved flags as the artists performed 1940s-inspired songs.
Commemorations will strike a more sombre tone on Sunday, with members of the royal family, veterans and senior politicians attending a thanksgiving service at London's Westminster Abbey.
There will then be a parade of current personnel and veterans past the balcony of the Treasury building where wartime leader Winston Churchill made his VE Day address and a flypast of current and historic aircraft –- including wartime Hurricanes, Spitfires and Lancasters.
VE Day itself fell on Friday, when commemorations kicked off with a service at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London attended by newly confirmed Prime Minister David Cameron.
After six years of air raids, blackouts, economic hardships and fighting that claimed the lives of almost 400,000 Britons, the country seized the chance to celebrate the end of the war on May 8, 1945.
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Hundreds of spectators waved flags as the artists performed 1940s-inspired songs.
Commemorations will strike a more sombre tone on Sunday, with members of the royal family, veterans and senior politicians attending a thanksgiving service at London's Westminster Abbey.
There will then be a parade of current personnel and veterans past the balcony of the Treasury building where wartime leader Winston Churchill made his VE Day address and a flypast of current and historic aircraft –- including wartime Hurricanes, Spitfires and Lancasters.
VE Day itself fell on Friday, when commemorations kicked off with a service at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London attended by newly confirmed Prime Minister David Cameron.
After six years of air raids, blackouts, economic hardships and fighting that claimed the lives of almost 400,000 Britons, the country seized the chance to celebrate the end of the war on May 8, 1945.
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