Programme - EVENT CANCELLED
Join us at 10.30am on Sunday 22 March 2020 for a presentation and interactive session with film producer Ethem Cetintas and historical adviser Norman Parker. This will be followed by the screening of the film at 11am.
For those interested we'll hold a short guided walk of the former Supermarine Factory and connected sites.
Screening of Secret Spitfires - 10.30am Sunday 22 March 2020
In 1940, the Germans destroyed the Spitfire factories in Southampton and believed they had ended the threat from their nemesis. But unknown to them, the British were building Spitfires in secret,
kept a secret for over 75 years. Secret centres were set up in Salisbury, Reading and Trowbridge whilst Southampton also turned their manufacture to secret dispersal factories. Factories were hidden in sheds, garages, bedrooms, bus depots, laundries, anywhere where the enemy would not be looking. With a workforce mainly made up of unskilled young girls, boys, women, elderly men andma handful of engineers, almost half of the total number of Spitfires were built in the secret factories of the South which became instrumental in winning the war.
Witnesses tell the story of this amazing achievement, recounting times of terrible sadness as well as joyous times that included GI dances, a Glenn Miller concert and a Joe Louis boxing match. Set against a backdrop of picturesque English countryside, we talk to 90 year old veterans who as
teenagers built the aircraft in their local villages, towns and cities, and we hear from modern-day fighter pilots for whom the Spitfire holds a special place in history. This incredible story concludes with Dame Vera Lynn reciting a moving poem written by a Spitfire pilot.
Tour of former Supermarine Factory - 3pm Sunday 22 March 2020
Join us for a tour of the former Supermarine Factory site, memorials, R.J. Mitchell's house and the events surrounding the bombing of the Factory in September 1940.
