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Saturday 26th September 2009
For one day this small village in mid-Lincolnshire became a meeting point for people from all over the world “To remember and pay homage to Polish and English servicemen and women who served at R.A.F/P.A.F Faldingworth during the Second World War".
The day dawned dry and warm as a small but effective army of volunteers started to prepare for the arrival of the visitors.
By Memorial hall opening time of 11am a significant number of visitors were already in the village, visiting the church, drinking tea and coffee in the chapel and browsing through the photographs, newspaper cuttings, personal accounts, and the Memorial books (moved from the church for one day) plus other memorabilia displayed in the Memorial hall.
By 1pm the dignitaries had arrived these included:
Colonel Krzysztof Szymanski the Defence, Military, Naval & Air Attaché from the Polish Embassy.
Consul General Piotr Nowotniak from the Polish Consulate along with his Vice Consul.
For the modern R.A.F. Air Commodore A.D. Stevenson Commandant RAF College and Director of Recruitment and Initial Training (RAF).
For the people of our district – West Lindsey District Council Chairman Mrs. Jessie B. Milne.
For the people of our village – Chairman of the Parish Council Mr. Paul Raynor.
At 1.40 the Standards, which included the “Queens Colour”.were paraded from the Memorial hall to the school playground, prior to entering the church
Representing the Polish Air Force of days past is the P.A.F.A. chairman of Trustees Eugene Borysiuk from Londo
This parade was led by the Scunthorpe A.T.C. 119 squadron band
to allow guests and dignitaries to enter the church followed by the Standards.
and followed by a detachment of R.A.F. Officer cadets from R.A.F Cranwell, these cadets then formed a guard of honour on the entrance path to the church
The service in the church included a rendition of the folk song “For those who will not know me”. This song was specially written and composed for us. The performers included the writer Mark Addison and the composer John Blanks. A moving address was given by the Reverend Charles Patrick. To read click here
Also hymns prayers and a blessing were sung and said .
Following the church service those who so wished made their way to the Memorial on the old airfield .
The service on the airfield commenced under cloudless skies with R.A.F Cranwell cadets marching on and forming a line around the semi-circle fence behind the Memorial.
The Standards then marched on and took their places.
The Polish Air Force flag was then raised , followed by the choir singing a hymn, prayers were then said.
Parts of a Halifax and three Lancasters were then placed in the memorial alongside the others already there. These were retrieved from the sites where the aircraft had been lost with the loss of 21 young lives and others wounded.
The crew names being read out by the Air Commodore and the Polish Consul General.
The part of:-
Halifax EB185 was placed by Mr Cox the brother of one of the crew members.
Lancaster BH-B LL857 was placed by the daughter of the farm manager on whose land the aircraft crashed.
Lancaster BH-W PA185 was placed by Mrs Mykietyn Dube the daughter of the pilot, who had travelled from America to be with us .
Lancaster BH-K NG269 was placed by the widow of the pilot's son.
The Last Post was played followed by Binyon's words from 'For the fallen', 1 minute's silence was observed finishing with Reveille.
The English and Polish national anthems preceeded the retirement of the standards and the lowering of the flag which concluded the Airfield service .
Two commemorative plaques were placed in the gravel area behind the monument (One before the service and one after) one plaque accompanied a memorial tree. Another plaque was presented to us which will be placed in the near future.
Everyone then returned to Faldingworth school for the reception and light refreshments by kind permission of the head teacher Mrs. K. Evans. They were welcomed by the children of the school singing and a welcome by the chairman of the parish Councillor Paul Raynor.
This was followed by an ATC cadet from Market Rasen ATC 2292 squadron speaking 'To those I did not know' and then followed the laying of wreaths and tributes led by the Chairman of the District Council
Prior to 16.50 everyone gathered on the school playing field to witness the flypast by the B.B.M.F Dakota
which performed three passes and amazed everyone by a crew member leaning out of the rear door and waving.
Back in the school hall speeches were said. Mr Greg Drozdz then presented to Reverand Charles Patrick a copy of Mr. Drozdz's father's diaries that had been written during his time at Faldingworth in 1944/45 and translated into English, this is to be kept in the church these diaries also appear on this website click here
The day slowly wound to a close.
We hope all who attended had a enjoyable if emotionally moving day.
Greatful thanks to everyone who helped in any way towards the days success.
We believe we fulfilled the aims of this event which were:
1] To honour those who came to RAF/PAF Faldingworth and gave their lives and health, for us all.
2] To be a reminder of how people in great adversity, and from their birth lands far apart, can come together to work and fight for the common good.
3] To remind people that they themselves are responsible for keeping and passing on the freedom from oppression that those who came here fought for .
‘A TIME TO REMEMBER’
RAF 300(POLISH) Sq’n
& 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit
We would like to thank everyone who attended the event .
Following is a short summary of the day,We were unable to have a photographer of our own on the day so if anyone who took photos and would like us to place them on this site please contact us on the email address
The weather was almost perfect, blue skies and warm temperatures the only problem were the gusty winds which unfortunately prevented the BBMF Lancaster fly past. The BBMF expressed their apologies, but the cross winds were considered too strong to risk the aircraft ,
The City of Lincoln is the only flying Lancaster in the UK and as such needs to be protected.
The village was filled with people from all over the UK and from abroad.
The Queen's Colour from RAF College Cranwell was joined by Polish Air Force Association, Royal British Legion, R.A.F.A. branches, Polish Scouts, Carpathian Lancers and A.T.C. standards, also the ATC119 sq'n Band and ATC 2292 sq'n cadets, in a parade from the village hall to the area outside the church to await the Church service. The ATC cadets then lined the route to the Church Those who were invited and had expressed a wish to attend the service entered The Church, which was filled to capacity for the 2 pm service, then the Queen's colour and standards joined the congregation for the start of the service .
After the service those who wished to made their way to the Monument on the airfield for a short service. At this service 36 wooden crosses were placed, each cross represented 1 aircraft which had flown from Faldingworth and not returned, In these aircraft 234 lives were lost. The crosses were placed at the memorial by 4 children one of whom was Polish.In using the children to do this it signified the young honouring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, so that they can now live in freedom.
Wreaths were then laid as part of the service, which concluded with the national anthems of both The United Kingdom and Poland.
During the airfield service a WW 2 Auster aircraft was on the centre line of the runway facing the memorial this aircraft was painted in the Polish squadron colours. and it is very likely Auster aircraft would have operated from here as most squadrons used them as communication aircraft.
This to our knowledge will have been the first aircraft to land at Faldingworth for over 30 years,
We thank the owner (who is Polish) and pilot for doing this .
The day concluded with Tea and conversation back at Faldingworth school untill 6pm
In the evening a "FORTIES DANCE "was held in the village hall and was enjoyed by all who attended.
Memorial Day at Faldingworth Saturday 21st May 2011
The local newspaper "Market Rasen Mail" have released a short video of some of the days highlights to view click on Video
The Path of Friendship
The overnight rain cleared and left us overcast but dry
For this years memorial / dedication service at Faldingworth. The village slowly filled with people,and by the time the standards paraded down to the church, the pavements were filled with guests and onlookers.
For the first time the parade was led by the Wilnot standard,
kindly paraded by the Queens colour squadron.
This was the longest journey the standard has taken away from its home at Northolt since it arrived there in 2012.
When the parade came to a halt in the school grounds,eager anticipation filled the air as the crowd awaited the arrival of the Lancaster Bomber from the BBMF. At 1.40 on time the sound of 4 Merlin engines was heard in the distance and over the church appeared the Lancaster. Three passes over the church was met with great applause.Following the Lancaster departure,those with allocated seats in the church made their way along the new Path of Friendship, which was lined by cadets from Market Rasen and Lincoln ATC, to their seats. After the congregation were seated the standards then made their way into the church for the start of the service.
After the conclusion of the church service, all the Standards left the Church and formed up on the path for the Prayer of Dedication which was performed by The Subdean of Lincoln, the Reverend Canon John Patrick. after those who wished to made their way to the Memorial on the airfield.The airfield service centred around the placing of 37 crosses. Each cross marked with the serial number of an aircraft lost from Faldingworth where some or all of the members of the crew paid the ultimate sacrifice.
A plaque was also placed by the sister of F/O Jerzy J Bregman navigator. This plaque was placed in front of a new tree planted in memory of the crew of PB171 BH-K F/O Bregman's aircraft .
Wreath's were then laid followed by the British and Polish National Anthems.
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