Special event at Atkinson to mark Polish Day
PEOPLE are invited to a special Polish Day taking place in Southport this March. The event will take place at The Atkinson on Lord Street on Saturday, March 12, with a full day of free family friendly activities, fun competitions and crafts, inspirational talks and delicious Polish food.
The celebration is being held to mark the end of the Courage and Devotion exhibition which has been held at The Atkinson since June 26 last year.
The free display honours the Polish RAF aircrew and ground crew who served at RAF Woodvale during the Second World War as they fought bravely against Nazi Germany. A number of them lost their lives while there.
The centrepiece of the attraction is a scale replica of Spitfire Vb AB273 specially created by artist Suhail Shaikh – which is one third of the size of a real Spitfire – almost entirely out of paper.
His ‘moment in time’ sculpture shows the exact moment, height and speed of the Spitfire being flown in 1942 by Polish pilot Sergeant Jerzy Stanislaw Zielinsky of the 308 Krakowski Squadron based at RAF Woodvale as it intercepted and shot down a Dornier German bomber off the coast of Southport.
The final day of the exhibition coincides with Polish Day on March 12.
The Atkinson curator Jo Chamberlain said: “Saturday, March 12 is
Polish Day at The Atkinson!
“As a final farewell to our incredibly moving exhibition Courage and Devotion, we welcome all to join us for Polish Day, a celebration of the lives of Polish Airmen based at RAF Woodvale during World War Two.
“This free event will be taking place across The Atkinson as we bid ‘do widzenia’ to our exhibition highlighting incredible stories of the airmen from that era which includes a replica scale model of a Spitfire Vb AB273.”
The Atkinson’s award-winning café, A Great Little Place, will be making and selling Polish delicacies.
Fun Polish craft sessions will be delivered by Polonia with assistance from the Liverpool Polish School’s students.
Inspired by Suhail Shaikh’s incredible paper sculpture of Spitfire Vb AB273, volunteers are helping to make paper aeroplanes and may even challenge you to a race or two!
Eric Watkiss will be in The Atkinson’s galleries to talk about the wreck of the Spitfire and the work that the Lancashire Aircraft Investigation Team does and the important work of the heritage centre at Hangar 42.
The Military Vehicle Trust is bringing a selection of vintage vehicles along and will also be staging a display in The Atkinson’s foyer space for all to enjoy.
An in-depth illustrated talk will be delivered by Dave Roberts of Liverpool’s Wartime Museum, Western Approaches.
Visitors can also enjoy Courage and Devotion: Chopin Recital by Andrew Wilde on Saturday, March 12, from 7-9pm in The Atkinson Studio.
Andrew Wilde has given recitals at major venues in Great Britain and abroad and he has performed with major orchestras worldwide such as the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Hallé, National Symphony Washington DC and Dallas Symphony.