Neasden to Buckingham Palace

I was sixteen in 1945, living at home in Neasden.  A group of my friends called on me on the morning of VE Day to go up to London, but they called earlier than we had arranged.  I remember that I’d just washed my hair – I had long hair in those days and no way to dry it other than with a towel – so I could not go with them because it was still wet.  They went on ahead and I went up to town after lunch around 2pm by myself.

I started in Piccadilly.  The crowds were huge, everywhere was so busy.  I went where the crowd went, we moved up Piccadilly one way then back the other.  I saw Winston Churchill appear on a balcony in Whitehall and everyone cheered him.  Then after a while people were saying that the King and Queen and the Princesses and Churchill were going to appear at Buckingham Palace and the crowd started moving towards the Mall.

The Royal Family and Churchill appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.  I’d never seen the King before and I could not see him because of the crowd, so two Army officers lifted me on to their shoulders so that I could see the Royal Family.

I stayed in central London for the rest of the day but I never did manage to meet up with my friends.  I stayed so long that the buses and trains had stopped.  I had no other way to get home, so I started to walk, from central London back to Neasden.  I had got as far as half a mile from my house but I was exhausted.  As luck would have it a car came along.  There was a group of young men in the car who lived not far from my house and they recognised me and asked if I needed a lift.  I was so grateful and so tired that I accepted and immediately fell asleep in the car!

I can’t remember if I was supposed to go to work the next day but if I was I can’t imagine how I managed it.

Pat Edmonds

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