Traditionally, on the Saturday closest to the International Museum Day, we took part along with other cultural facilities in Skierniewice in the Night of Museums. It is worth noting that for us it is the eight edition of this event and the Engine Shed was the first in Skierniewice to open its doors to visitors at this special night. From the beginning we always called it a Railway Night of Museums. This year it took place on 20^th May. Each year we try to prepare a different arrangement of the exhibition and its illumination. This year’s centre point was the oldest part of the roundhouse sheltered under completely rebuild roof and skylight.

During the Railway Night of Museums we were visited by 784 guests, many of which took advantage of the special, free of charge return trips provided by Łódź Agglomeration Commuter Railway. Thank you very much for visit and feel invited to the upcoming events.

To improve the experiences of our guests, we tighten our cooperation with Łódź Agglomeration Railway (ŁKA). To encourage the citizens of Łódź Voivodeship to visit the Skierniewice Engine Shed, ŁKA has prepared a special offer. Passengers going to Skierniewice with ŁKA train can use their one-way ticket as a return ticket free of charge. The only condition is to receive a special stamp in the Engine Shed. The offer is valid on following days:

• 20^th May – Railway Night of Museums
• 3^rd June – Children’s Day in Engine Shed
• 1^st July – Open Day
• 5^th August – Open Day
• 2^nd September – Open Day
• 16^th and 17^th September – Skierniewice’s Festival of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables
• 7^th October – Open Day
• 26^th November – Railwayman Day

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On the upcoming Night of Museums, ŁKA encourages all interested to travel to Skierniewice with train ŁKA Sprinter “Syrena” (departing at 17:08 from Łódź Fabryczna station). Return with ŁKA Sprinter train departing at 22:00 from Skierniewice. With the special offer in force, the total cost of the travel is 16PLN, 10,08PLN with pupil’s discount and 7,84PLN with student’s discount.

13^th tourist season in Engine Shed was launched on Saturday, 6^th May. Despite the unpleasant weather, we were visited by 330 guests. This year, many of the exhibitions have been presented in new arrangement. First, the rolling stock exhibition has been moved, so that all renovated vehicles are now sheltered under the fully rebuilt part of the roof and skylight of the roundhouse. Additionally, we equipped this part of the building with benches, so the tired visitors could take some rest here. Also the workshop and signalling exhibition was rearranged and supplied with new exhibits.

Due to the 30^th anniversary of establishing the PARE and 13th season of opening the Shed to the public as a museum facility, Skierniewice’s Radio Communication Club of League of Country’s Defence (LOK, call-sign SP7KMX) has established a radio station with the occasional call-sign HF30PSMK. The station will be broadcasting during each Open Day in the Shed and will be available to all interested in its activity.

On behalf of PARE and LOK Radio Communictaion Club we encourage all radio amateurs across the Europe and the World to join in.

On 28^th April, for a second time in Shed’s history, we were hosting the event during which President of City Skierniewice is awarding artists and people active in field of conservation and popularisation of cultural values. This year, among the laureates was our colleague and the citizen of Skierniewice, PARE’s vice-president Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska – awarded for her exceptional activity in revitalization of Skierniewice Engine Shed. During her speech, she underlined that this is the award of all the people, who actively participated for the last 25 years in preservation of the Shed.

Other Skierniewice’s citizen’s awarded with the Steam Engine of Culture were Anna Pokora, Włodzimierz Stefanowicz (known to us from his performances during Evenings in Engine Shed), Małgorzata Lipska-Szpunar and Andrzej Krysiak. The event was also an opportunity to celebrate the 111^th anniversary of establishing the Public Library in Skierniewice and to honourably mention Krystyna and Jerzy Pietrzak, owners of company Fambud, for their support to cultural activity in Skiernieiwce.

We also made use of the opportunity to express our gratitude to the city council for their help and support in taking over the last part of the engine shed – the old office building. On behalf of PARE, the former president of PARE, Paweł Mierosławski, and current vice-president, Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska, passed the words of gratitude to the President of City Skierniewice, Mr. Krzysztof Jażdżyk.

The event was concluded with something for body and for spirit. The City Council, organizer of the event, provided a catering for the participants, and Leski – artists and musician from neighbouring Żyrardów – provided the musical performance for all the guests.

The Steam Engines of Culture gala is slowly becoming a constant part of our event calendar. We hope to host this event also in coming years.