THESE residents of Whitley Head, Steeton, celebrated victory over Japan with a party on Saturday, September 8, over three weeks after the end of the war. The number 68 in the bottom left hand corner indicates that photographer George A Shore had already visited another 67 such gatherings.

Whitley Head's festivities started with a fancy dress competition – two men in the back row are still wearing theirs – followed by children's sports, a substantial tea, and dancing to the music of accordions. The evening closed with a bonfire and fireworks display attended by some 300.

Four youths in the back row are demonstrating a 1940s fashion whereby men, when not wearing a tie, would carefully fold their shirt collars on the outside of their jackets or blazers.