"Fun of the Fair" - Polish Day at Adventure Coast Southport!

ON the August Bank Holiday, Monday, 31 August 2026, Adventure Coast Southport (formerly Southport Pleasureland) held a special free, family friendly event. This event was set up to honour historic wartime connections between the:- Showmen's Guild of Great Britain, along with the fairground industry in Southport to the Polish Air Forces. It also celebrated Polish heritage and culture, with:- Polish foods, Polish family activities, history displays, and live Polish music.

The event was entitled:- "Fun of the Fair" that was the name of the country's very 1st Supermarine Spitfire, which was funded by the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain. We also learnt that Norman Wallis, the owner and CEO of Adventure Coast Southport, had a great grandfather who set up a fund to raise money for the war effort during World War II. His great grandfather was in charge of the Showmen's Guild at the time. We learnt that together, the travelling showmen of the UK managed to buy a Mark 1 Supermarine Spitfire (named:- 'Fun of the Fair'), explicitly intended to aid the air defence. This exact:- "Fairground Spitfire" (a Mk V) was later handed over to the Polish Air Forces, who had been based during the war at:- RAF Woodvale, just outside Southport, defending the skies of Liverpool and the North West.

This also explained the reason Norman Wallis hosted this event at:- Adventure Coast Southport for Merseyside Polonia.

These are some photographs taken at the event, with some more on the following page within this edition. If you attended, please do let us know your thoughts about it. you can do this by ending us an email to our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com or send us a message on:- Mastodon, Facebook, or Twitter. We love to hear your views, but we would especially love to hear from you if you have any connections to this chapter of the War at Woodvale or in the raising of funds for that Spitfire....

For more details about Adventure Coast Southport, please visit:- AdventureCoastSouthport.Co.UK, or email:- Hello@AdventureCoastSouthport.Co.UK,

To find out more information about Merseyside Polonia, please visit:- MerseysidePolonia.Com, or send them an email to:- Info@MerseysidePolonia.Com.