Let's mark VE Day with Great British Bunting | BBC Radio Solent's Lou Hannan

There were events, street parties and commemorations planned.

The May Day bank holiday was moved from its usual first Monday in the month to Friday, May 8 to coincide with the anniversary.

The stage was set but coronavirus has put paid to all of it.

However, not to be defeated and still wanting to mark this historic day, here at the BBC we came up with a little idea to get everyone celebrating at home – Great British Bunting!

The plan is really simple – make bunting, decorate it and hang it up in your window.

If we can’t meet in public to celebrate, we can do it from the comfort of our own homes.

We launched this at BBC Radio Solent last week and it’s been fantastic hearing the response and seeing the pictures of how people are embracing the idea.

At first, we were aiming it at parents who are homeschooling, thinking it would be a great little project for kids to get involved with.

But it seems creativity knows no bounds with every generation getting involved – from sewing red, white and blue off-cuts to cutting triangles of newspaper.

There’s even a template online at bbc.co.uk/makeadifference where you can download instructions and an A4 sheet complete with dotted lines that you cut along.

We had a go on the Breakfast Show with myself and Alun both making our own bunting.

As you’d expect, it got quite competitive with him mixing poster paint and producing alternative red, white and blue triangles.

They were professional-looking but some might say rather boring.

I, however, stuck to the traditional felt tip pens (they took some hunting out, I can tell you) but went with a Union Flag design on a couple of the triangles followed by red, white and blue decorated letters complete with stick-on diamantes.

Why don’t you give it a go? You can’t tell me you don’t have time.

Mark the 75th anniversary in style – show your support and display some home-made bunting!

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on portsmouth.co.uk. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to portsmouth.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit our Subscription page now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.