LORNA MARSH A VE celebration at the Forum in Norwich this weekend will feature a host of major events to both commemorate the past and bring it to life.

LORNA MARSH

A VE celebration at the Forum in Norwich this weekend will feature a host of major events to both commemorate the past and bring it to life.

VE60, the free two-day public event, will include a reunion meeting for wartime evacuees and host families, a recreation of a 1940s house and a big band concert.

t Entry to Origins will be free on both days and will include a 1940s house complete with kitchen garden, a row of 1940s shops and a bomb shelter.

t An open-air remembrance service on Sunday at 11.30am led by the Rev Peter Noakes from St Peter Mancroft will be followed by an evacuee reunion at 12pm hosted by BBC Radio Norfolk. Places for the reunion must be booked in advance.

t From 8pm on Sunday the Jonathan Wyatt Big Band will put on a free concert with entry by ticket only. Dining tickets are available for Pizza Express and the café bar.

Evening visitors are invited to dress in 1940s gear, and inspiration can be taken from City College Norwich's 1940s Fashion Show, taking place at 12pm and 3pm on both days.

t The 2nd Air Division Memorial Library will be open and the Children's Library will host a hat-making workshop from 11am.

t There will be a Roots of Gressenhall Land Army display with horses and piglets and an exhibition of 1940s vehicles featuring an Austin K2 ambulance from the Muckleburgh Collection.

Re-enactment specialists dressed as members of the Home Guard and Women's Voluntary Service among others will be on hand to help visitors.

The weekend will be presented in association with BBC Voices and funded through the Home Front Recall lottery scheme.

It will run alongside Their Past Your Future, an exhibition on the second world war led by the Imperial War Museum, currently on display in the Atrium.

t To book places for the evacuee reunion, the big band concert or the dining areas call 01603 631631.