A CROWD gathered at Coleford’s Clocktower to watch as the town commemorated the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan (VJ) Day.

On Friday, August 15 at 11.50am, the Mayor of Coleford, Cllr Nick Penny, welcomed onlookers with a speech which gave tribute to the British and Commonwealth veterans who helped secure our freedom and peace.

The Mayor told the crowd key dates towards the end of global conflict which led up to August 15, 1945. He then read out the names of six individuals from Coleford who went to join the war effort in Asia and the Pacific, but sadly lost their lives. These were Edward Thomas John Ambry, Clarence Bernard Baker, Frank Edward Baynum, Douglas Reginald Jacob, Charles Cylus Jenkins and Frank William Tippins.

Cllr Nick Penny said: “It was very moving. We always come together to mark poignant occasions in Coleford and the community always gets behind it, but to read the names of the six fallen was very moving for myself. It’s an honour, but very emotional.

“It’s vitally important, we have to keep remembering these days or it will be forgotten and the freedom we have today will not be celebrated in the way it should be. This is one of the reasons we in Coleford try to get younger people involved in civic duty.”

Also in attendance was Paul McMahon of the Royal British Legion, Ruby and Tasmin from the Army Cadets, Chloe and Lily from the Coleford Girl Guides Unit and Cllr Paul Kay, Deputy Mayor of Coleford.

Paul McMahon and Cllr Paul Kay formally laid the wreaths at the foot of the Clocktower’s war memorial. Chloe and Lily delivered the act of remembrance, reading from Laurence Binyon’s poem ‘For the Fallen’, before the clock struck 12 and a two-minutes silence was observed.