Mr Fremmer said: "Our history makes us what we are, and for me as a German I celebrate everything that we celebrated when we remember the milestones from the end of the war, because for me I always think that nobody really wins a war, everyone loses.

"It was like nothing I'd ever seen," 102-year-old RAF veteran Kenneth Johnson said of the VE Day celebrations in 1945. He is one of thousands across the north-east of England and Cumbria commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe.

RESIDENTS at Heathland House care home celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Mayor Terry Cordery joined the festivities at the Cinnamon Care Collection home in Ferndown. Residents enjoyed a homemade afternoon tea while staff,