Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council is encouraging its residents to join in with its array of virtual VJ Day 75 celebrations on Saturday 15th August.

Friday 14th August

ISLAND Arts’ VJ Day themed eZine will be distributed to signpost over 15,000 recipients to other initiatives being undertaken by the council as well as fun ideas of how they can channel the 1945 spirit and celebrate VJ Day while following social distancing guidance. It will share

  • 'Make Your Own VJ Day Bunting' templates to print and make at home.
  • Fashion and music from the 1940’s era
  • Children will be encouraged to download illustrations and take part in a colouring-in competition with spot prizes being awarded 

Click here to view the ezine

Saturday 15th August

5.50am - 6.00am The Mayor will speak from Castle Gardens before a piper plays Battles O’er

This will be recorded and posted on social media.

As the sun rises throughout the nations, pipers of the world will pay tribute to the veterans of VJ Day and we are proud that Lisburn Castlereagh is part of this.

From 12 noon

  • The Arts Service will support broadcaster & historian Dan Snow’s VJ Day challenge via its social media channels https://ve-vjday75.gov.uk/dan-snows-vj-day-challenge/​
  • Underpinning Good Relations, the Arts Service will join the Premier League Academies campaign commemorating VJ Day by encouraging children to create paper cranes to send to Big Ideas, where they will be assembled into a paper wreath for the Children’s Peace Monument in the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park. https://www.big-ideas.org/vjday/
     
  • The Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum will have an online VJ Day 75 Exhibition.  It will outline the factors that led to the surrender and an associated timeline, UK and local celebrations and legacies of WW2.  It can be viewed online at www.LisburnMuseum.com/VJ-Day

8.00pm Beacon Lighting in Castle Gardens

This invitation only event will be recorded and added to social media.  The format will be:

Opening speech by Mayor Trimble
Speech of Remembrance of those who lost their lives - Mayor's Chaplain
Last Post to be played Bugler
2 minutes silence
Reveille to be played Bugler
The Beacon will be lit

Local churches have been invited to take part in ‘Church Bells Ringing Out for Peace’ to mark the end of the beacon lighting at 8.30pm.