Exclusive: Full colour photographs of Leeds celebrating the end of World War II 80 years ago seen for the first time

Celebrations on Albion Street Leeds to mark the end of World War II newly colourised by Leeds City Council

Magazine Editor

Published 4th May 2025, 00:00 BST

But thanks to the work of Leeds City Council’s communication team some of those black and white pictures can now be seen in colour for the first time, bringing history alive. And this is no AI programme, they have all been painstakingly colourised by hand, ready for a special Civic Reception on May 10 where Leeds’s last surviving World War II veteran Jack Moritimer will be honoured.

“We are having a Civic event on May 10th to commemorate both VE Day and VJ Day and we thought it would be a nice idea to colourise some of the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Libraries’ images that we hold from VE Day and VJ Day in our Leodis archive,” says LCC communications team member and one of the people behind the project, James Pawlowski. “I have a lot of experience doing this sort of thing as a former photojournalist and graphic designer.” Depending on the amount of detail in the photograph the process can take James, who is now working on photographs of his grandmother in the land army, between two and eight hours per photograph - but the results are well worth the labour of love.

The black and white photograph is restored digitally and then a colour layer is added, with each different colour added by hand. James and the team did a lot of research where possible to ensure colours such as those for uniforms are as accurate as possible but others were done by trial and error, trying colours until he felt they were right.

A Yorkshire Post photographer captured a group of soldiers and civilians celebrating on Briggate, the soldiers are carrying an effigy of Adolf Hitler, a noose is being held up behind the head of the guy Colourised by Leeds City Council

“You can tell when you’ve got it right and the shadows are correct. It is such a lovely process to see a photograph come to life. You also see a lot of more detail when it’s in colour.” Another aim of the colourisation project is to make the history of Leeds more accessible to younger generations who are more used to colour photographs.

It was at seven in the morning on May 7, 1945, that Winston Churchill received word that the German’s had unconditionally surrendered But it was another 12 hours before the news was released to the nation, when the BBC interrupted its schedule to announce that “in accordance with arrangements between the three great powers” the following day, May 8, would be Victory in Europe Day and regarded as a holiday. The Home Office cautiously advised: “Bonfires will be allowed but the government trusts that only material with no salvage value will be used.”

The ration on celebratory flags, but not food, was eased to allow street parties and the joy and relief is clear to see on these photographs as communities pooled their scant resources to celebrate the long-awaited end to the war. Victory in Japan, was to follow in the August of 1945. The public are invited to submit any photographs they may own of the VE and VJ Day celebrations in Leeds to a new collection on the Leeds Libraries historical photo platform, Leodis which can be emailed to [email protected]. For those who need help digitising their photographs visit www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/digital-drop-ins