HELENSBURGH, along with the rest of the UK and countries across Europe, briefly fell silent on Friday to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Seventy-five years since the signing of the document which ended the conflict between the Allies and Nazi Germany, people in Helensburgh observed two minutes' silence at 11am on May 8 – the day which, in the spring of 1945, instantly became known across the world as 'VE Day'.

Though social distancing restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic put paid to plans for public events such as parades and street parties around the UK, that didn't stop people in Helensburgh and beyond paying their individual, silent respects, as in the pictures with this article, taken by Richard McDonald in the town's Malcolm Place.

READ MORE: Helensburgh's ex-Wren, Jean Holland, shares her WW2 memories – 75 years since VE Day

The silence was also observed at HM Naval Base Clyde, where submarines and surface ships will sound their sirens for 60 seconds at 3pm, the time 75 years ago when Winston Churchill made a radio address to the nation to confirm that the war in Europe was at an end.

At 10pm on Friday, ships at Faslane will shine their searchlights skywards for five minutes as darkness falls over the Gareloch.

The Navy lost more than 250 warships in the course of the conflict, while more than 40,000 sailors and Royal Marines were killed in the Atlantic, Arctic and Mediterranean.

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