Plans are well underway for a big VE Day anniversary celebration in Ledbury, including a street party.

The party will take place from 4pm to 7pm on May 8, Bank Holiday Friday, and will require a road closure for the High Street.

But another highlight will be the unveiling and rededication of the War Memorial, after extensive restoration work.

Ledbury town council has invited the son of a former editor of the Ledbury Reporter, Stuart Heaton, to be guest of honour, because he has fully funded the restoration of the town’s war memorial, to the tune £30,622.

Mr Heaton, aged 95, a former RAF navigator on Lancaster bombers, told the Reporter last November, when his kind offer was made public: “Several of the names on the memorial are known to me, and several of those I knew as people; that’s the main reason. I thought it would be a wonderful thing to do - for myself. I count myself lucky that my name is not on there.”

In addition, a list of all the families of those who lost their lives in the Second World War is being compiled by Brenda Hill, one of the organisers assisting the town council.

The family members will be invited to attend the rededication and the following church service, and they will be give “a priority place at the memorial”.

The content of the special church service is being discussed and co-ordinated by town clerk, Angie Price, the Reverend Keith Hilton-Turvey and historian Jennifer Harrison, who played a key role in compiling memorial books for the Parish Church, to help commemorate the town’s fallen for posterity.

Ledbury’s mayor, Cllr Phillip Howells, will read a declaration at the memorial, to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of hostilities in Europe.

Ledbury’s bell ringers, who meet in the tower of St Michael’s and All Angels Church, will be asked to “ring in the peace” at 7pm on the day.