THE Oxford Mail is set to commemorate VE Day with a souvenir edition next month – and we would like you to be part of it.

On Friday, May 8, your Oxford Mail will be full of stories and photographs from our archives, capturing the mood of that monumental day 75 years ago.

Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day or V-E Day, is a day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of the Second World War of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on May 8, 1945.

VE Day was a celebration of the war’s end, a way of recognising the sacrifices and hardships of the British soldiers who could now safely return home.

This year’s early May bank holiday, which is traditionally held on a Monday, has been moved to coincide with VE Day on Friday, May 8.

This was supposed to kick-start a weekend of events commemorating VE Day, but due to the pandemic, many of these have been placed on hold.

We feel it is incredibly important to mark the occasion. We believe it is poignant now more than ever, given the current crisis.

Therefore, on Friday, May 8, your Oxford Mail will be a one-off commemorative edition – and we would like readers to be part of it.

We are asking anyone with memories or photographs of VE Day to send them to us.

We’d like to also hear your war memories or, for those of you whose relatives served and have sadly since died, we’d like to hear your memories of them and the accounts they told you.

We would also like to hear from those on the frontline in our NHS and emergency services fighting coronavirus who perhaps had a grandparent or relative who served on the frontline in the Second World War.

The souvenir edition will provide a history of the Second World War, the events which lead up to VE Day and profiles of people who played important roles in Britain’s war effort.

The Oxford Mail VE edition will have the usual cover price of 75p. Online subscribers to oxfordmail.co.uk will have access to the stories printed in the edition.

With stories, email news@nqo.com.

If you are a business and are interested in finding out about supporting the commemorative edition, please email our advertising director, shane.harding@localiq.co.uk