REGULARS of the Royal Oak in Haworth are pictured here celebrating Victory in Europe early in May of 1945.
Haworth organisers had decided to postpone their official celebrations until after the defeat also of Japan, but “all the same”, as the Keighley News of the time observed, “Haworth did not lack the VE spirit” and this was one of many impromptu high jinks.
The scene presents an unselfconscious cross-section of the public, including at least two uniformed soldiers. A man and a woman on the right are giving the V for Victory sign.
It is not clear what the senior figure in the middle is up to but, beer glass in one hand and jug in the other, he appears to be pouring water on to an obscure object decorated with a swastika.
A note on the back of the original print names the man standing second from the left as Mr Crossley, the landlord.
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