'We weren't anxious or worried anymore on VE Day'

In a red leather photograph album, 90-year-old Sheila Breed points to a little girl at a VE Day street party on 8 May 1945.

''That's me," she said. "We'd not seen food like that for ages."

Victory in Europe Day, which marked the end of the Second World War in Europe, is one Sheila will never forget.

"Everybody was so happy, they were singing and smiling," she added. "You didn't feel worried or anxious anymore, you'd not got to think of going in the air raid shelter, it was relief that it was not going to happen again."

Mrs Breed arrived in Leicestershire as a four-year-old evacuee from Sheffield on 1 September 1939, as the war began.

She was taken in by a family in Cossington after a nerve-wracking selection process in a nearby village hall.

She said: "I can remember holding my sister's hand very tightly and all these people came in.

"We were chosen and I had a wonderful childhood in Cossington and the people were so kind.

"We were very fortunate."

Mrs Breed was among hundreds of thousands of children taken out of UK cities and into the countryside, away from the risk of German bombs.

But even in a rural Leicestershire village, she experienced air raids.

Mrs Breed said: "There was a bomb that dropped not far away and blew all the dining room windows out.

"At night, when the siren went, we slept underneath the stairs. It was dark and it was scary."

Wartime also brought food shortages and rationing.

"I couldn't bake or learn to cook because we only got one egg each week and a certain amount of ingredients," she added.

"I can't remember ever feeling hungry but I wasn't that thrilled with the food."

After the war ended, she remained in Leicestershire with her older sisters, who found love and settled in the county.

She now lives in Sileby with her husband of 71 years, Terry, who she met at school.

The couple have four children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Mr Breed, 92, said: "It was one good thing that came out of the evil of the war – had there not been a war, we would not have known each other and got married."

Mrs Breed has been invited to light a beacon in Queen's Park, Loughborough, to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May.

She was chosen for the role in a competition organised by Charnwood Borough Council.

She said: "I was honoured and when I light the beacon my thoughts, my prayers and my thanks will go to all those who gave their lives so we could enjoy all these years of peace."

The mayor of Charnwood Julie Bradshaw added: "I am looking forward to joining Sheila when the beacon is lit in Queen's Park to mark this anniversary.

"Charnwood is proud of its military history and Armed Forces community, and it is set to be a poignant night."

The beacon will be one of thousands across the country lit to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.