CIVIC buildings in Leeds are to be lit up in red, white and blue for VJ Day.

Commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day will be held on Saturday, August 15.

Leeds City Council is not able to hold any large events to mark the occasion this year due to social distancing restrictions linked to the coronavirus - but has plenty of alternative plans.

It is encouraging residents to get involved in all kinds of ways including by using a ‘digital toolkit’ which has been produced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and is available at https://ve-vjday75.gov.uk/get-involved/.

Local children can get involved by colouring in pictures to display in their windows and making origami birds to mark VJ Day 75.

Those paper cranes can then be sent to Big Ideas - see www.big-ideas.org/vjday/ for more details - and will be assembled into a wreath for the Children’s Peace Monument in the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park.

The city council’s libraries team has also produced a short film of photographic material from end-of-war celebrations in Leeds.

Similar to the one they created for VE Day in May, the film will be shown via the council’s various social media feeds.

A national commemoration by The Royal British Legion, meanwhile, is being held on August 15 at the National Memorial Arboretum.

The event will be broadcast on BBC One at 11am.

It is set to include veteran testimonies, music from military musicians and footage of a number of wreath-laying ceremonies at different memorials.