Euro 2012 with a Polish twist in Kendal (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Euro 2012 with a Polish twist in Kendal

11:59am Tuesday 5th June 2012 in Euro 2012 and South Lakeland By Daniel Orr, Reporter

AS EXCITEMENT reaches fever pitch ahead of Euro 2012, Polish nationals in South Lakeland are getting ready to join in with the party back home.

The Brewery Arts Centre is getting into the spirit of the occasion by showing all of Poland, England and Ireland’s matches on giant screens for free.

It all came about after Polish nationals Zbigniew Pawlik, senior restaurant supervisor, and chef Jacek Misztal put their heads together and came up with the idea of showing the first game between host nation Poland and Greece.

Zbigniew said: “There was a management meeting about the Euros and we thought, why not do something with a Polish slant on it? It just grew from there.

“At first we thought we would just show the opening match but when we spoke to people in the Polish community we realised there was a real hunger for the matches, so we are showing all of the Poland group games now.”

Jacek added: “There are quite a lot of Polish people in the area, and we gave flyers to Polish taxi drivers who have told us they have had lots of interest. I’ll be cooking some traditional Polish food for the matches.

“It is a big thing for our country and family and friends back home are excited.

"We have not hosted any big events since we got our independence. It will be big fun and a nice atmosphere during the games.”

The Poland vs Greece match will be shown in The Brewery’s Warehouse Cafe at 5pm. Tickets are free, but people need to pick one up from the venue beforehand.

Then the games move to three giant screens in The Malt Room, with Ireland’s opening game against Croatia on Sunday and England’s first match against France on Monday.

Then it’s Poland vs Russia on Tuesday, Ireland vs Spain next Thursday, England vs Sweden next Friday, Poland vs Czech Republic next Saturday, Ireland vs Italy on Monday, June 18, and England vs Ukraine on Tuesday, June 19.