💕HELLO MY LOVELY FRIEND! 💕

I hope you are keeping well and thank you for all your messages of care and support. It’s been a busy month – lots of event planning and performances. Please keep your news comng to me I love to hear from you and wish you a very happy and successful New Year 2024. Below I am letting you know of my latest news and future performances. Hope to see you very soon 🙂

🎵KATY CARR MARCH 2024 CONCERTS🎵

Sunday 17th March 2024 at 4:00 pm THE SPRING RECITAL BY KATY CARR in honour of The 80th Anniversaries of the D-Day Normandy Landings and the Battle of Monte Cassino 1944. 

Address The Edinburgh Polish Club, 11 Drummond Place Edinburgh EH3 6PJ. Tickets £12 . Scottish Polish Cultural Association Spring Concert link  https://www.scotpoles.co.uk/spring-recital-2024/

(direct link to ticket paypal page:  https://www.paypal.com/webapps/shoppingcart?flowlogging_id=f4500963f8953&mfid=1709191288825_f4500963f8953#/checkout/openButton )

Personal note from the Scottish Polish Cultural Association You are most welcome to join us for a spring recital by Katy Carr, a British singer with Polish roots, on Sunday 17 March at 16.00 in the Polish House in Edinburgh! The event is organised to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino and D-Day landings. Tickets can be bought via the SPCA website, www.scotpoles.co.uk We suggest booking early to avoid disappointment. See more information below and on the SPCA website. (or visit Scottish Poles Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/scotpoles)

Concert programme for 17th March 2024

16:00 – 16.10 Welcome by Scottish Polish Cultural Association Chairperson  Mrs Izabella Brodzinska  

16:10 – 16:25 Talk by Alexander Smaga the Architect of the Polish Air Force Memorial in Normandy 16:30 – 17:30 Recital by Katy Carr 17:30 – 18:15 Wine reception & nibbles in the room downstairs 

KATY CARR Katy Carr is an award-winning British recording artist with Polish roots and has  released 6 albums. An Ambassador of Polish history in Great Britain, her recent  albums Paszport (2012), ‘Polonia’ (2015) and Providence (2020) are inspired by the  Polish WWII experience. In 2016, Katy was awarded the Pro Patria medal for her  humanitarian and musical work. A musician, aviator, and multi-instrumentalist (piano,  ukulele, banjolele, vintage keyboardist) she has performed her music internationally  with live concerts & tours, intergenerational outreach workshops throughout Great  Britain, Poland, Europe (France, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Germany) USA,  Mexico, Canada as well as connecting with her audiences via live streaming during  the pandemic. Katy Carr has been played on a number of high profile radio stations  including the BBC, Radio Trojka, Polish Radio, Robert Elms BBC Radio London, BBC  Radio 4 Today program, BBC Radio 3 Late Junction, Polski FM, Jedynka Radio 1,  Max Reinhardt’s Late Lunch Show on Soho Radio, BBC World Service’s Global Beats. ‘One of the most unusual, passionate and intriguing concept albums of the year’  ★★★★ THE GUARDIAN ‘Melodic history lessons. Katy Carr is an unusual and original singer songwriter. She is fascinated by history, has a gift for strong, upbeat melodies and manages to match research with unashamed emotion.’ ★★★★ SONGLINES More info about the artist can be found here https://katycarr.com/about-katy/ALEXANDER SMAGA MSc. Dipl.-Ing. Arch. RIBA ARB is a Royal Institute of British Architects Chartered architect and the founder of AS Architects. He studied architecture at the University of Technology in Vienna with William Alsop and at the Ecole Nationale d’architectures de Versailles. In 2019 Alexander designed and built The Polish Air Force Memorial for D-DAY 75 in Normandy, France dedicated to the Polish Fighter Squadrons No. 302 “City of Poznan” Polish Fighter Squadron, No. 308 “City of Kraków” Polish Fighter Squadron and No.317 “City of Wilno” who provided an air shield to the Allied troops during Operation Overlord and the Allied offensive in France. Located on the north coast of France in Plumetot the PAF memorial is located near Sword beach and the then secret landing pad codenamed “B 10”. Alexander Smaga is proud to have Polish roots and was born in Vienna, Austria. He lives and works in London and Vienna. Check out Alexander’s website here :  https://alexander-smaga.com/

❤️ A BIG THANK YOU FOR MY EDINBURGH CONCERT PARTNERS :Mrs Jola Debicka-MacLennan for all your hard work, liasing,  organising the artists, the venue, promotion, printing & advertising materials,  Anna Ruszel for keeping our members informed about the event,  the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh,  The Consul General Mr Lukasz Lutostanski and Sylwia Spooner in charge of  Cultural affairs for supporting the event. Mr Marek Straczynski for the use of the Polish House and provision of  accommodation for the artists. Katy Carr for her enthusiasm to perform and the recommendation of the Architect of the D-Day Memorial in Normandy Alexander Smaga Elzbieta Rychlik-Sharp for the unfailing support and expertise in setting up  tickets online, updating our SPCA website and arrangement of the programme SPCA Chairman Mrs Izabella Brodzinska for her work and encouragement and  leadership All SPCA Committee members for the enormous help and support The Scottish Polish Cultural Association always welcomes new members who would like to explore both cultures and contribute to our event calendar.The aim of the Scottish Polish Cultural Association is to introduce Poland and Polish culture  to people in Scotland and to popularise Scottish culture amongst the Polish community. We would be delighted if you could join us: just complete the membership form on the website. A cost of lifetime membership is only £10.00. Everyone is welcome. Members get notifications  first about our events. Visit our website for forthcoming events. For more information, please visit our website: https://www.scotpoles.co.uk/❤️ A BIG THANK YOU TO everyone who has hosted Katy Carr events this month in February.  🇺🇦 CONCERT TO COMMEMORATE THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIA’S FULL SCALE INVASION OF UKRAINE 🇺🇦 It was an honour to Perform Ukrainian folk songs @The Forge Gallery in remembrance of those imprisoned in the terror of Russia’s War in Ukraine at a bespoke exhibition of specially selected Ukrainian artwork to commemorate the beginning of Russia’s  brutal current war which started 24th Feb 2022. We remember the one million children stolen by Russia for brutal child slavery, the Ukrainian mothers who cry everyday for their missing babies, the theft of Ukrainian citizens for slave labour in Siberia, the countless raped, murdered and enslaved people of Ukraine. Please keep us in your prayers and pray for members of my family, my friends and for everyone who are experiencing the horror of this brutal war and for those who have faced the terror of Russian aggression first hand.#WeStandWithUkriane #russiaisaterroriststate  Below Katy performing Ukrainian Folk Song at the Forge Gallery at the Our Home Exhibition : Ukraine 24 Feb 2024 – 29 Feb 2024. – The charity art exhibition Our Home: Ukraine presents works by contemporary Ukrainian artists working across a variety of mediums. Curated by Anna Nesterenko and Anna S. https://www.artrabbit.com/events/our-home-ukraine-the-forge-london

Below with my lovely new 🇺🇦Ukrainian friend Alla who was so moved by performance that she has ordered a folk costume from 🇺🇦Ukraine so that I can wear it at future performances. I added a very moving artwork of an artist hammering steel nails as a remembrance gesture paying tribute to the graves and the lost lives of this dreadful war RIP. 🇺🇦

🎙️RADIO INTERVIEW – JUST LIFE – 🎙️Interview with Katy Carr – I was honoured to be interviewed and perform twice on RM England on10th Feb 2024 Anniversary of the theft of 2 Million Polish Citizens stolen to Siberia to the slave labour death camps in 1940 by the then Russian forces and also wth Fr Toby Lees on theoccasion of the Second Anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – Links to shows coming soon 🙂   ❤️ A BIG THANK YOU TO my lovely songwriter friend Sharon Lewis https://www.sharonlewis.net/ for a lovely concert performing at the Small World Gathering in Brighton, Sussex. Thank you to Kim Shankar for the foto , your friendship and for inviting us X

❤️ A BIG THANK YOU TO my long term artistic collaborator Susan Burghart who designs the artwork for my albums. We are planning new and exciting projects for 2024 – keep tuned in for more. Check out Susan’s website https://www.susanburghart.com/

❤️ A BIG THANK YOU TO Małgorzata Kaczyńska for the wonderful birthday wishes and it means so much to me to received them from the 1st Polish Armoured Division, 1. Polska Dywizja Pancerna tank division of which I am an honorary member. As an artist it is so important to hear your wonderful wishes as I often spend a lot of time composing in isolation until I perform concerts. This post has given me such a confidence boost ❤ ❤ ❤ I do hope that my music can continue to help share Polish history for a very long time for present and future generations. I love Poland and my Polish family and my wonderful Polish sisters and brothers xxxx katy Kocham was ❤

❤️ A BIG THANK YOU TO you all for wishing me such wonderful birthday wishes – I feel so loved 🙂 )))

❤️ CONGRATULATIONS to Janusz Skowron for your wonderful news article and for everything that you are doing for Polish art and culture in New York City giving us platforms to present our artworks. You are my biggest inspiration in NYC. Lots of love to you and your lovely wife Ania XXXX

✨WE REMEMBER ✨ ✨RIP ALEXEI NAVALNY✨✨✨- the best President Russia NEVER had. Murdered in Siberia in a remote Arctic penal colonyby the Russian government. Navalny is now a Martyr for Freedom against Russian aggression and joins the 400 million people murdered in Siberia for standing up and opposing totalitarianism. ( Two million Poles were stolen from Poland in WWII for slave labour and only a small percentage survived the oppressive Russian brutality as temperatures soar below -50 degrees centigrade -58 F in winter). 

Our thoughts are with his wonderful wife and now widow Yulia Borisovna Navalnaya who is a Russian public figure, economist and has been described in media as the “first lady” of the Russian opposition. After the murder of her husband’s, she announced that she will continue his work. 

Alexei Navalny’s wife issues chilling Putin warning to West and has claimed Russian leader Vladimir Putin killed, tortured and starved her husband, saying “he is capable of anything”. Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (28 February 2024), Yulia Navalnaya said: “Putin killed my husband, Alexei Navalny. “On his orders, Alexei was tortured for three years. He was starved in a tiny stone cell, cut off from the outside world and denied visits, phone calls and then even letters.”  ✨ We wish that Yulia stays safe and strong in her fight for freedom and justice against the current brutal Russian totalitarian Communist regime✨ ❤️ STAY SAFE AND STRONG ❤️💕Thank you for your continuing support of my music💕Keep in touch ! Lots of love to you and your family i pozdrawam serdecznie✸✸✸✸✸ Katy Carr and the Aviators ✸✸✸✸✸