Column by the leader of Stroud District Council, Doina Cornell.

THIS Friday we’ll celebrate the end of the war in Europe, and honour those who served and some who paid the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to keep us safe and win against tyranny.

All these years later, their example continues to inspire us, and as the world once again faces challenging times, I see every day in my own community people who are brave and ready to do whatever it takes to keep others safe.

What this crisis has shown us is that those workers who are key to keeping our communities safe, keeping essential services running, and caring personally for those who need looking after, without regard for their own hardship, are the ones who haven’t always been valued in the past.

Today we clap for our key workers, and during the war, as well as our service men and women, so many others would have played their part in keeping the effort going and bringing about victory.

I’ll remember them too this Friday.

Despite the restrictions I am sure people will be coming up with inventive ways to celebrate while keeping to the social distancing guidelines.

As we start to turn our thoughts to what will come after the crisis we all face today, let us remember the great legacy of VE Day, our National Health Service and other reforms that inspired the service men and women who were far from home, prepared to lay down their lives so the generations to come could have a better life.