Image: Peace celebrations postcard from The Lightbox heritage collection, 1919

The Armistice began at 11 o'clock on 11 November 1918 when the guns were to fall silent. It was not, however, the end of the Great War. The end came with signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919. This was followed by a national holiday (Peace Day) on 19 July when many towns and cities, including Woking, held Victory Parades and street parties.

This display not only celebrates the end of the Great War, but also shows the changes that the war brought to Woking. The Peace celebrations were always overshadowed by the sheer numbers of those who lost their lives.

The Military Cemetery at Brookwood and the Muslim Burial Ground had both opened in 1917. Later in 1922 Woking's War Memorial was erected in Victoria Park (now Victoria Square). As CQMS William Andrews, 1/4^th The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) said:

“Peace came, but not at once for those who survived. The war pressed down on some of us like a doom for years after the last shot was fired.”

Learn more in this free heritage display outside Woking's Story, our local history museum.
30 October 2018 – 20 January 2019