Jack Ferguson was nine when the war broke out.

Unlike a lot of children in the area Jack and his younger brother Bill were never evacuated and lived through the nightly bombing raids over Clydeside. When the chance of evacuation had been offered his mother had refused saying that if they were going to die, they would all die together. They boys never questioned her maternal logic.

Like most of the children in the country, Jack and Bill had big world maps pinned up in their bedrooms. They tracked the victories and defeats and the ebb and flow of the tide of battle with pins topped with little flags of Britain, Germany, Russia and America. Every night they listened intently to the bulletins from the BBC on the radio and moved their armies accordingly and towards they end of the war they knew victory was imminent.

Bill started working at his uncle's garage in Glasgow as an apprentice panel beater when he was 14 and was 14.5 on VE Day. Although treated as a working man, he still wore short trousers under his overalls.

"That morning I went to work as usual," he recalls. "I remember it very clearly. We were repairing a big, black Austin Ivor for a funeral director and it was needed the next day."

During the day rumours spread through the workshop that an announcement had been made that the war in Europe was over but Jack kept working to get the job done.

"By the time the car was ready, there was just my uncle and me left," he continues. "It was late, getting dark and the trams weren't running. The streets were beginning to fill with people drinking, singing and dancing. My uncle had to get home in Rutherglen Road so he suggested he would drive the funeral car to his house and I would drop it off at the funeral director's which wasn't far from my house in Gallowgate.

"I was a bit shocked because I didn't have a driving licence and, although I'd moved cars around the workshop and driven on a piece of vacant ground, I had almost no experience of driving on the roads."

His uncle drove them to his house then got out, telling Jack to be careful. Jack folded the old sheets that were used as dust covers and put them on the driver's seat to give him more height. He then put on an old cap and scarf, took a deep breath and headed back into the city.

"There were lots of people crossing the River Clyde heading for the city centre. They were all waving flags and singing," says Jack. "All I was concerned about was watching out for the police. I turned into Greendyke Street, then on to London Road. Suddenly I couldn't drive any further - I was up against a solid wall of people, lining the street from side to side. I decided to get of the main street and turned onto Bain Street but that was even worse."

Things started to get out of hand for Jack and he was beginning to think he'd never get the car to its destination in one and all the time thinking he was about to be caught.

"In Bain Street there were hundreds of people singing and dancing," he recalls. "Young men were climbing up blacked out lampposts. There were people playing accordions, drums and bagpipes and there were couples dancing everywhere.

"By now it was very dark but they had started setting up bonfires. This was really strange to see after years of being warned never to show lights because of the air raids.

"I could only drive at a very slow crawl and people started jumping on the running boards of the car and sitting on the bonnet and the boot. The girls were laughing and screaming and there were lots of young men in uniform who thought it was all a bit of a laugh but I was scared stiff the car would be damaged. I had my uncle to face in the morning plus I was sure the police would have to escort me out and I'd be discovered!

"After what seemed like an eternity, I made it out of Bain Street and into Gallowgate where there was another crowd of revellers but it began to ease off. Eventually I got the Great Eastern Hotel doors where I'd to deliver the car.

"I pulled the scarf up over my chin, pulled the cap down and in my deepest voice asked the night porter for the keys. He hardly looked at me, gave me the keys and, breathing a huge sigh of relief I opened the gates and parked the car. I returned the keys and walked home in the opposite direction of the partygoers who'd be dancing into the wee small hours."

Didn't Jack fancy joining them?

"Did I hell! I was exhausted - I just wanted my bed," he laughs.