TODAY was meant to have been Helston Flora Day, falling on the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

Incredibly, it was also Flora Day on the original VE Day, back on May 8, 1945, and so perhaps it is fitting that the two dates should combine when the country is once again at war – although this time it is a war against a virus.

Flora Day had not been celebrated for most of the war years, but preparations were hurriedly made when it became clear peace was about to be declared.

Victory celebrations had begun on the evening of May 7, when bomb-scarred Falmouth was said to have “resounded with the sirens and hooters of ships in the harbour”.

On Flora Day 1945 Helston was not only decorated with the traditional green foliage but with red, white and blue bunting.

With many men still away in the forces, the Children’s Dance was the only official dance of the day – although Helston Town Band, supported by others from the town, also played for two further unofficial dances.

Susanne Carter (nee Eva) from St Martin, was one of the dancers taking part, partnered with a boy named George Middleton, an evacuee from London – one of 300 to be sent to the town from the capital, along with 200 sent to Porthleven.

Her late husband Derek has written about the day in his co-authored book Cornish War and Peace – The Road to Victory and Beyond.

In it he quotes a newspaper report from the time that described the day as “among the most successful in the long history of the ancient festival” and goes on to add: “From an early hour people began to pour into the town, and at about midday the crowd in the main thoroughfare to watch the Children’s Dance was so dense that all traffic was held up.”

Temperatures soared to more than 26 degrees centigrade that day – as reported in national newspapers the following day, which were allowed to give a weather forecast for the first time since September 1939.

Helston Flora Day steward John Liddicoat has also written a history of the event between 1940 and 1945, in memory of his late wife Betty, who spent 46 years on the committee of the Early Morning and Evening Dance and who died in February this year.

It was on February 19, 1940, that the Flora Day Association held its first annual general meeting of the war years – and following the treasurer’s report there was only one other item to discuss – what would happen to Flora Day that year.

After considering a restricted programme, it was resolved that “in view of the critical situation created by the war and difficulties in respect of transport, subscription etc, it was unanimously decided to suspend Flora Day celebration during the war”.

This arrangement, as far as the association was concerned, continued until March 1945, when at the request of its president, then Helston mayor Edwin Upex, they would meet to “consider the holding of the usual dances on the 8th May next”.

However, despite not being organised by the association, Flora Day did continue to be celebrated in the town on May 8 during the war years, with dances organised by war-time fundraising committees – no doubt with some stewards’ help and guidance.

In 1940, the first year that Flora Day fell during wartime, residents were woken by the strains of the Flora Dance played by Helston Town Band, now a military band, which was given three days special leave to return and play.

They were not followed by dancers and the town was not decorated, although some children did dance after the band’s last parade later in the day.

The following year it was decided a Helston and District War Weapons Week would be held from May 3 to 10, with a special programme for May 8.

Children aged nine-and-a-half years and over were invited to dance, including evacuees, with one West Ham youngster writing home to his family to inform them that he was “learning the Cornish Lambeth Walk”.

Thousands of people turned out to see this dance, with buses bringing in crowds from the surrounding district.

At Lismore, then the home and grounds of Dr JP Michael, actor Godfrey Tearle, who appeared in the 1935 version of The 39 Steps, spoke of how Helston had raised more than £120,000 for its War Weapons Week.

Two days later, on the night of May 10/11, 20 people were killed during a bombing raid on Falmouth.

In 1942 the Helston and District War Weapons Week committee again held the fundraiser to coincide with Flora Day and some 350 children participated in the dance.

Although not part of the committee’s plans, the band again paraded the streets at 5pm when it was said “one of the largest Furry Dances ever witnessed in the history of the borough left the Guildhall”. An estimated 300 couples, including children, took part.

Come 1945 the general feeling was that dances should still not be revived until the end of the war. However, Edward Cunnack then proposed that a Children’s Dance be held and this was accepted.

This dance was led by 14-year-old Eileen Hocking (later Jenkin) and her cousin, Maurice Williams, followed by Colleen Smith (later Golding) and her partner, Bernard Dale.

She said afterwards: “I had just had my 14th birthday on May 4. Then at school assembly on the 7th, Mr ‘Tommy’ Hart, headmaster, announced at the assembly who would be leading the school in the dance.

“To my surprise and delight my name was called out, and that I was to lead the dance with Maurice. What a great privilege. The weather that day was perfect and the atmosphere just magical. She said it was “a special day that will live with me forever”.

When Helston Town Band returned home to civilian life they could hardly have imagined their ‘reward’ for their service: the Army requested the return of all their instruments.

Happily ‘new’ instruments were found and obtained and the band continues to perform, not only on Flora Day but throughout the year as well.

Mr Liddicoat said: “Indeed now, as they were then, they are still ‘the only band in the world that can play the dance tune properly’.”

l With thanks to John Liddicoat and the late Derek Carter.