Like in most towns and villages in the UK, celebrations had been planned in Welshpool to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

Sadly, of course, these have all had to be called off. However, Alan Crowe, the organiser of all things 1940s in the town, has shared with the County Times a selection of pictures to take us back to May 8, 1945, when Welshpool celebrated the end of war in Europe.

Broad Street can be seen absolutely packed with people of all ages, with the town hall in the background, as the community came together to mark the occasion. The Victory Queen pictured in the photos, Dorothy Williams, is still alive today.

However, it was actually the following year when the celebrations went up a scale. “The big celebrations were in 1946,” Alan said. And 50 years later, the same set of events were put on at Welshpool Town Hall, as organisers tried to stick to the schedule on the original poster (pictured) as closely as possible.

Although there were many celebrations on VE Day and on the year anniversary, Alan points out that in fact, many celebrations took place in the area in the August of 1945. This was because many men who went off to fight in the war had gone further afield to the Middle Easy had not yet returned home.

Alan has also sent in photos of the land girls who came to Welshpool during the war, which are all part of his My Memories of Welshpool project. A few are still alive and in the town today.

He said that many of these women came from Birkenhead and Liverpool. He spoke of one woman in particular who came over from the city to live in Berriew.

“It was too quiet for her,” Alan said. So, despite being in the middle of a war, she returned to Liverpool. However, once she arrived back home, she decided to make her way back to Mid Wales yet again.

“It was safer, after all. But as soon as she did, a bomb landed by her doorstep – and not in Liverpool. Thankfully, she wasn’t in the house at the time.

Although there can’t be any street parties, concerts and events this year, Alan has come up with a way for people to mark the occasion safely at home by using social media.

“If you’ve got a relative who served in the war, or who worked as a land girl, change your profile picture on Facebook to a photograph of them,” he said.