Stephen's Journey
Thu 12 Mar
|Location is TBD
Adrian O’dell invites you to view his film about his father’s wartime escape from Poland to Britain, and he and his wife's journey following in his father's footsteps 80 years later. The film tells the story of both odysseys, one separated from the other by eight decades and a changed world.
Time & Location
12 Mar 2026, 14:00
Location is TBD
About the event
On 6th September 1939, Stefan Zółkowski set off with a group of 25 fellow officers on a 9,000-mile journey from Poland to Britain which lasted ten months, passing through South-Eastern Europe, the Middle East, France and North Africa.
The Polish Air Force had been dispersed and disbanded after the invasion by Germany on 1st September that year (the start of WW II) and the escapees’ objective was to flee Poland and join the fight against the Germans in France and then in Britain to continue the battle against the Nazis.
Using their wits to stay alive and avoid detection and often living in grim conditions, they travelled on trains, by foot, commandeered-buses and aboard freighters, trawlers, passenger-liners and coal ships.
They arrived in Glasgow on 15th July 1940 before being moved on to Blackpool for eventual re-distribution and integration within Polish Air Force squadrons allied to the RAF. Stefan reached…