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Interviews with those who lived through the Occupation and Second World War veterans will be one of the many ways the 75th anniversary of Guernsey's Liberation will be marked along with the traditional church service and message from The Queen, a sofa-sing-along and plenty of other events all to be streamed online.
Planning for Liberation Day 2020 had been ongoing for some years - with every intention to make it one of the largest public celebrations in Guernsey since 1945 itself.
In recent years, the decade and half decade anniversaries of the Liberation have seen more people converge in central St Peter Port to observe the military parade, to listen to the Church Service and to enjoy the cavalcade and other events planned to 'commemorate and celebrate'.
Pictured: The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were meant to visit the Bailiwick this year but their Royal Tour has been cancelled.
This year there was due to be a Royal visit for the first Liberation Day in five years as the Queen's cousin, the Duke of Gloucester and his wife were due to tour the Channel Islands. That has been cancelled along with other plans for arrangements so the older members of the population who lived through the war years could watch the parade and cavalcade from raked seating reserved for them in town.
The 'Guernsey Together' theme which has been adopted by the response to the covid-19 pandemic, has also now been used to bring together the plans for the virtual celebrations under a new title of 'Liberation 75 Together'.
There are plans to bring people together during the week leading up to 9 May, with daily creative activities to be shared online including cookery and dance tutorials, art projects and historical documentaries relating to the War, Occupation, Evacuation and Liberation.
These can all be viewed online on the Liberation Day Facebook page, the Liberation Day website, and the States of Guernsey Facebook page.
Pictured: Lieutenant Governor, Vice Admiral Sir Ian Corder will be involved in the virtual commemorations of the 75th anniversary of Liberation Day.
On the 9 May there will be a number of traditional commemorative events, staged differently to normal to allow to social distancing and to adhere to the lockdown.
The remaining air raid siren at Victoria Tower will sound at 09:00 before a Liberation Day message from the Bailiff, Sir Richard Collas is shared at 09:30. Following that, footage of the traditional wreath laying will be screened at 10:50am with the Liberation Day Church Service, led by the Very Reverend Tim Barker, Dean of Guernsey, to be shown at 11:00.
During the afternoon of 9 May, there will be a chance to see an interview with one of the first soldiers to arrive on Guernsey's shores on Liberation Day, 1945.
The interview with Stuart Snow, now 96, will be screen at 12:20. He "recalls the joy on islanders’ faces as the troops came ashore".
His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, Vice Admiral Sir Ian Corder, will read a special message on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen at 14:00 before interview TV Historian and Visit Guernsey Ambassador Dan Snow did with Sir Ian and his Aides Major Marco Ciotti are screened.
As well as watching the events online, everyone is encouraged to join in from home.
There are plans for a 'wartime sofa sing-a-long' and a reading from the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book by co-author Annie Barrows. People are also encouraged enjoy their own 'stay at home tea party'.
Any photos of the lockdown Liberation can be shared with others by using the social media hashtag #Liberate75Together.
The full schedule of events for Liberation 75 are below:
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