Commemorate VE Day in Bury St Edmunds

Commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day with a special trail across Bury St Edmunds town centre, organised by Our Bury St Edmunds BID and supported by the Suffolk Regiment Museum.

Explore the town and discover 10 different World War II-related items hidden in participating businesses.

Record the location of each item on the competition form and you may spot the same item more than once but you only need to list one per type.

Trail forms can be downloaded here, or picked up from The Apex and the Tourist Information Point at St Edmundsbury Cathedral Shop on Angel Hill. Once you’ve completed the trail, return your form to the Our Bury St Edmunds office at 2 Woolhall Street, IP33 1LA to be entered into a prize draw.

The Trail runs until Sunday 1st June.

On Saturday May 3rd many of the businesses in St John's Street will be hosting activities to mark VE Day including music, face-painting, and exhibits from Rougham Control Tower Aviation Museum.

Join St Edmundsbury Cathedral for a service to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day from 5.30pm on Thursday May 8th.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral is Suffolk’s cathedral and stands in the heart of Bury St Edmunds and is a stunning location to commemorate this historic day.

The service will be followed by the town's beacon lighting in the Abbey Gardens.

Commemorate 80 years of peace since the end of World War II in Europe with the town's beacon lighting in the Abbey Gardens on Thursday May 8th.

VE Day 80 is not only a tribute to those who fought for freedom but also a powerful reminder of the resilience and unity that have defined our country ever since.

Eastgate Street entrances open at 8pm.

Beacon to be lit for 9.30pm.

During World War II The Suffolk Regiment expanded significantly.

The Suffolk Regiment Museum in Out Risbygate, Bury St Edmunds, covers the regular, militia, volunteer and war-time battalions as well as the experience of individual soldiers and is told through medals, uniforms, photographs, weapons, equipment and personal memorabilia.

These include:- the surviving Roubaix Drum, buried in France at Dunkirk and retrieved safely after D –Day; the Regimental Brooch presented by the Regiment to its Colonel-in-Chief HRH The Princess Margaret; a superb research collection of badges and insignia; the nameplate of the LNER railway engine, ‘the Suffolk Regiment’; the Imperial German flag, taken down from the German Governor's Building in Togoland on 5th August 1914 - almost certainly the first to be captured during The Great War; Sgt Arthur Saunders’ Victoria Cross; artefacts and photographs telling the harrowing story of those men captured by the Japanese; a National Serviceman's bed space gives a taste of life in the Regiment in the 1950s both at The Depot and on active service’ and much much more!

The Museum is open Wednesday - Friday and the 1st Sunday of each month from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

Visit The Suffolk Regiment Museum website for more details.

The award-winning Rougham Control Tower Aviation Museum is dedicated to preserving the memory of all who served with the 8th USAAF at RAF Bury St Edmunds during WW2, housed in the original control tower and other period buildings.

Uncover the history of the men and women who served here and how they fit into the story of The Mighty Eighth that will be told in a new 9-part Apple TV+ series Masters of The Air, starring Austin Butler in January 2024.

Bury St Edmunds was home for thousands of American airmen and women during WWII and a visit to Rougham Control Tower Aviation Museum is like taking a trip back in time. Full of artefacts, maps, photo's, aircraft relics and memorabilia. Friendly guided tours and a welcoming Vintage Tea Room with home made cakes and refreshments.

RAF Bury St Edmunds, now Rougham Airfield and known in WWII by the USAAF as Station 468, not only welcomed 3,000 GIs during WWII but the Glenn Miller Orchestra, legendary comedian Bob Hope and Hollywood movie star Clark Gable, who all visited to entertain the troops.

It was home for the 94th Bomb Group (and for a shorter time the 322nd and 47th Bomb Groups) of the USAAF 8th Airforce, whose contribution to the Allies’ strategic bombing offensive helped turn the tide of war against the Nazis and free occupied Europe.

The 94th Bomb Group flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign and served chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization throughout the war.

The Museum is open every Sunday until the end of Summer.

Visit Rougham Control Tower Aviation Museum website for more information.