VE Day celebrations on smallest of rations

A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER who served as a Wren during the Second World War has described how celebrations for VE Day were happy occasions but limited by ongoing rations.

- BEN MITCHELL

Mabel Kidney, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, was only 13 when the war started, and after she joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) at the age of 17, she was based at HMS Daedalus in nearby Lee-on-the-Solent.

The 99-year-old said: “I joined the Wrens to see the world and I ended up over there.”

Ms Kidney, who lives at the Admiral Jellicoe House care home run by The Royal Naval Benevolent Trust (RNBT), described how she was in the barracks when the end of the war was announced but she said there were no major celebrations because they were still in a military environment.

She said: “I'm sure I was on duty on the day, I was in the barracks but it was quiet because there was nobody about much and it was just an ordinary day to me.

“There were hooters going off and stuff but you were in a military area so you weren't able to have a knees-up. We weren’t expecting it really but it was good news.”