ON MAY 8, 1945 a thirteen-year-old schoolboy was ask to ring the bells at his local church – to signify to an exhausted population that the war in Europe was finally over.

Now, 70 years later, Arthur Rogers will be sounding the bells in his local church again to mark the anniversary of that momentous moment.

On the day Germany officially surrendered and the long years of war and destruction were over, people took to the streets to celebrate, as church bells up and down the country rang out the news.

Arthur Rogers was one of those asked to sound the official victory peal at his local church in Elland, West Yorkshire. Aged just 13, he had taken up the hobby the year before because his friend asked him to accompany him to lessons.

Church bells in the UK lay silent until 1944, as they were only supposed to be sounded as a warning to the population if the Germans had invaded Britain.

Now Mr Rogers, 83, from Tollerton, North Yorkshire, will be ringing the church bells again, this time at his local church, St John and All Saints’ CE Church in Easingwold on Saturday (May 9), to signify the 70th anniversary of VE day.

“I was only a kid. I don’t remember much about the day,” he said.

“You couldn’t ring church bells during the war until 1944 - when we started winning - because people would think we had been invaded by the Germans. But I didn’t think much about why the bells were or weren’t ringing because who was losing or winning the war.

“It was just because my friend said, “I’m learning bell-ringing will you come with me?” that I took it up.”

About 20 other parish churches in the Diocese of York and elsewhere in the North-East and North Yorkshire will be ringing their bells on Saturday morning to mark VE Day.

The “back eight” bells of Durham Cathedral which were sounded to mark victory in Europe in 1945 will be also sounded again across the city on Saturday.

Other events are planned throughout the region. On Friday, May 8, more than 700 primary school children from five schools will celebrate at Le Cateau Community Primary School in Catterick Garrison. There will be military displays, a live military rock band and talks from members of the armed forces about their work.

Also on Friday, the Mayor of the Borough of Darlington, Councillor Gerald Lee and military associations will be leading a two minute silence at 3pm, for those that lost their lives, followed by three cheers to mark the ending of the Second World War.

Beacons will also be lit up and down the country on Friday evening. Including at Barnard Castle, where celebrations will begin in the town on Friday and continue throughout the weekend.

A beacon will also be lit at Cliffe Park in Seaburn, Sunderland at 9.30pm, during an evening of free entertainment and fireworks.