The Fish Works in Largs, North Ayrshire, is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings and National Fish & Chip Day by displaying a host of World War Two memorabilia as well as giving away free fish and chips.
Everything from gas masks to original World War flags will be on display on Thursday 6th June while the shop’s walls and windows will be decorated with pictures drawn by local school children.
The memorabilia is on loan from nearby Skelmorlie Secret Bunker, once a nuclear bunker and now a museum. In return, The Fish Works is providing 50 free portions of fish and chips to war veterans taking part in a beacon lighting ceremony at the bunker that evening.
Largs was a secret base for wartime conferences during the Second World War. It hosted The Battle Conference, attended by the likes of Winston Churchill and General Dwight Eisenhower, which helped co-ordinate the D-Day landings and map out the invasion point on the French coast.
The Fish Works will also be setting a timer at random intervals during the day with those customers at the till when it goes off receiving free fish and chips. In addition, it plans to light its own lamp while a piper plays outside the shop in honour of Bill Millin, also known as Piper Bill, best remembered for playing the pipes whilst under fire during the D-Day landings in Normandy.
Owner of The Fish Works Tiffany Irivin says: “It’s a great way to encourage people down to the shop, see what’s going on and hopefully win some free fish and chips.”
Unaware of the link between fish and chips and the war until her and her husband Ross bought the shop seven years ago, Tiffany adds: “The more we’ve been involved in the industry, the more we have learnt about the link between fish and chips and the war. This year we want to recognise this significance and the significance of D-Day itself, it was the pivotal turning point in the war and we want to commemorate that with doing as much as we can.
“We are delighted to be asked to provide the fish and chips for the veterans and we are really looking forward to it.”
