The Nightingale Café’s namesake was a café located on the Biggin Hill airfield during the Second World War. The Café was a normal civilian café, which, when war was declared, decided to become part of the RAF enclave at Biggin Hill. The café owners and their children, from that moment on, had a unique experience of war at Biggin Hill.
Today the Nightingale café is part of the Biggin Hill Memorial Museum and the museum team wanted to honour its great historic significance by commissioning an illustration for one of the café’s walls.
This mural reflects the stories of Geoff, the elder child who shared his incredible memories with me.
The illustration compiles the stories of this unique café, part of the military zone but nonetheless a place of camaraderie and humanity, a place where pilots and soldiers from all horizons could grab a short instant of peace in this time of war.
This illustration project was Highly commended by the jury at the AOI world Illustration award 2019.
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On site photo: Malcolm Park
Merchandise image by Freepik