South Lanarkshire Provost, Councillor Margaret Cooper, led a short event for invited guests, which included Lord Lieutenant, Lady Susan Haughey, local and national politicians, members of the Royal British Legion, local clergy, emergency services personnel and senior officers of the council. 

Also invited were representatives of the Cameronians, Scotland’s only rifle regiment of the British Army, disbanded in 1968, and now memorialised in a unique permanent exhibition at Hamilton’s Low Parks Museum. 

A quartet from the community music group, ‘Soundsational’, dressed in fashions from the war era, performed ‘Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree’ and ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ as the guests took their places. 

Rev Ross Blackman, Minister of Hamilton Old Parish Church, then led an opening prayer before Laurence Binyon’s famous words, ‘They Shall not Grow Old’, were read.

The ‘Last Post’ then sounded before a two-minute silence was observed and the anniversary flag raised to mark eight decades since Germany surrendered to allied forces on 8 May 1945. 

After a final prayer, the ceremony ended with the playing of the national anthem and final sounds from a lone piper. 

Provost Cooper described VE Day as ‘one that must never be forgotten’. She added: “I have no doubt that Victory in Europe Day is one that those who lived through it would remember for the rest of their lives. It must surely have been a day full of hope and joy, and genuine celebration.

“Yet, there would also have been sadness for so many as they remembered loved ones who gave their lives on a foreign battlefield to make sure that this day of victory would come. 

“And that is why we are here. It is why, not just on this 80th anniversary, but every year, we honour the sacrifices they made. 

“Eighty years on from the end of WW2, there are very few of our ‘greatest generation’ still with us, which makes it even more important we, who enjoy the freedoms they fought for, ensure that their voices will live on.

“Coming together today in remembrance, and to raise this special flag is the very least that we can give them, and we do so with pride.”