Celebrating the end of war with an old-fashioned street party in Hartlepool

The town’s Heugh Battery Museum on the Headland will take a trip back in time when it stages a Peace Party on Sunday, June 30.

It will include a giant street party to mark 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Peace parties took place all over the country, including Hartlepool, which suffered more than most due to the 1914 bombardment.

The Heugh Battery Museum is inviting 100 people to join them for the event.

Museum manager Diane Stephens said: “Peace parties were a lovely way of coming together, the way we are doing, to celebrate rather than the somber atmosphere of remembrance.

“They were a celebration that the war was over and we won.”

Guests sit round a large table on the museum parade ground while there will be entertainment from Fishburn Brass Band and vintage vocalist Yvonne.

Guests should bring their own picnic. There will be lots of hands on activities going on including the Heugh Bowmen’s shooting galleries, while photos of peace parties from the end of the war will also be on display.

Diane added: “I’m so looking forward to it. We would like people to get dressed up in costume from around the period such as wearing their fancy hats and pinnies.”

Entry to the party is by advance ticket only which are just £1 per person.

Diane said it is the museum’s way of thanking people for their support during the recent fundraising drive, backed by the Mail’s Battery Charge campaign.

Tickets are available from the museum in Moor Terrace during opening hours of 10am-5pm Fridays to Monday.

The museum will be closed to non-ticket holders all day for the party which starts at 12pm and Unlimited Passes are not valid for the event.

It comes after the gun battery held a Big Brew Up coffee morning on Wednesday, June 26.

Visitors enjoyed tea and cake and guided tours of the museum in aid of the charity SSAFA.