Preston veterans' poignant solo ceremonies for VE Day

So the ex-serviceman from Penwortham is staging his own mini-parade outside his house - and has invited all his neighbours to watch from a safe distance.

Stuart is one of thousands of forces veterans across Lancashire who will be marking the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe in a homemade way under lockdown.

“I would have been at the Cenotaph in Preston had things been normal,” he said. “But when all the events were cancelled because of coronavirus, I felt I had to honour our heroes with some kind of ceremony. I couldn’t let the day pass without doing something.”

Stuart, 46, is planning a march past along the middle of Malthouse Way. He has borrowed a speaker so that neighbours can hear his solo ceremony, complete with the Last Post and the National Anthem.

It will start just before 11am, just in time for the national two-minute silence. And he will be in full standard bearer regalia.

“Carrying the standard for the RAF Association is a great honour for me and this is in memory of all those people who have gone before me,” he explained.

“I have put notes through the neighbours’ doors and asked them to come out and be part of this - observing social distancing of course.

“It’s sad that we can’t celebrate VE-Day as we had planned. It was going to be three days of events in Preston. But at least this way we can do our own little bit and still stay in lockdown.”

Preston’s Parade Marshal Michael Nutter would have been in charge of the VE-Day parade in the city centre. Instead he will lay a wreath at the War Memorial on the Flag Market early on Friday in plenty of time for the two-minute silence at 11am.

“Obviously we’re not able to do anything collectively at 11 o’clock,” he said. “So I’ve decided to go on my own earlier in the morning and make sure everything is in place to honour those who sacrificed everything so we could have what we have now.

“We may be in lockdown, but this is important.”

Retired Colonel David Waters, left, who took over as president of the Preston and District Veterans Council recently, is urging everyone to play their part by decorating their homes in red, white and blue - and even dig out “suitable” Christmas lights to adorn their front windows.

“Despite the current difficulties we all face, we can still remember, we can still celebrate, we can still rejoice,” he said.

“Moreover we would like to encourage the wider community to get involved, get the bunting out, get the kids painting banners and signs and get stringing up those lights.

“Let’s make a day of it and, in the wartime spirit, let difficulties be damned.”