The 28th Wrocław WOŚP Grand Finale – MARKET SQUARE

As every year, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity will play especially loudly in Wrocław!

The 28th WOŚP Finale in Wrocław will be exceptional in every respect. We now know all the event’s details. The two-day celebration runs from 11–12 January and returns to Wrocław’s Market Square after several years away. Some Finale events will take place at Stary Klasztor. Great concerts, surprising events, extraordinary guests, fascinating auctions and the traditional “Policz się z cukrzycą” Backwards Run are just some of the attractions. This year’s Finale raises money to buy state-of-the-art equipment to save the lives and health of children needing various operations. It promises two days of excellent fun for the noblest cause. This year, Wrocław Mayor Jacek Sutryk has granted the event his honorary patronage!

We begin on Saturday 11 January, when Stary Klasztor will host Shantymani and a Balkan New Year’s Eve celebration. Wrocław’s sea shanty community has long supported WOŚP, and this time Mietek Folk, W Stronę Portu, Jan i Klan and Znienacka Project will take to the stage. Meanwhile, the Gothic Hall will welcome everyone celebrating Doček Nove Godine. This year’s Balkan New Year’s Eve promises to be particularly lively, with performances by the Polish-Bulgarian-Czech Sarakina Balkan Band, Bulgarian group Balkan Folk Acoustic and Poland’s leading specialist in Balkan beats, DJ Szoszana. As with all Finale events, admission is free. Volunteers with WOŚP collection tins will be waiting at the entrance: give whatever you can, because every złoty counts!

The Grand Finale on Sunday 12 January will begin with the “Policz się z Cukrzycą” run, starting in the Market Square. Participants will cover one kilometre, but it will not be easy: they will run backwards. A variety of exhibitors will appear in the square, including many sports teams, and, as usual, it will be a paradise for enthusiasts of vehicles of every kind. Visitors can meet Śląsk Wrocław basketball players, leading a training session for children; WTS Sparta Wrocław; Polish American football champions Panthers Wrocław; and quidditch team Wrocław Wanderers.

As every year, Finale visitors can receive free preventive examinations at the Town Hall through “Biała Niedziela”. Exhibitors include Wrocław Municipal Guard, Partynice Racecourse, Muzeum Motoryzacji Topacz and Classic Cars Wrocław. We will also see motorcycles constructed by students through LEM Wrocław, Light Electric Motorcycle. Gwardia Gryfa, masters of sbandieratori and “Mam Talent” semi-finalists, will give two spectacular demonstrations of Italian flag juggling.

For many people who visit Wrocław’s Finale every year, the concerts are the biggest attraction! This year’s main stage in Wrocław’s Market Square will feature the relaxed, young and fiercely funky Kraków group Mikrokosmos; one of alternative reggae’s most interesting bands, NO LOGO; Wrocławska Orkiestra Gitarowa; Szczecin’s Chorzy, renowned in Wrocław for their powerful performances; local group Conga Line, drawing on ska, reggae and swing; phenomenal singer Nikola Warda; and the uncompromising rock ’n’ roll of Dr Misio, led by one of Poland’s finest actors, Arkadiusz Jakubik. Completing the line-up is Bitamina, who conquered Poland’s alternative scene this year.

After Bitamina's concert comes the culmination, “Światełko do nieba” at 20:00, preceded by a speech from Wrocław mayor Jacek Sutryk, honorary patron of the city's WOŚP Finale. Of course there will be no fireworks: the Great Orchestra loves and cares for animals.

As every year, concerts will also take place at Stary Klasztor. Under the banner of the world's loudest orchestra, performers there will include Żyrardów's Pull The Wire, with their devoted following; the excellent rapcore and nu-metal group Hope; the recurring Gitarowe Przeboje Wszech Czasów project; and Wrocław punk rock legends Blade Loki with their new singer Dorota “Doris” Karasińska!

Over 27 Finales, the Orchestra has raised and spent more than PLN 1 billion supporting Polish healthcare, including a record PLN 176 million last year. On 12 January, over 120,000 volunteers organised into 1,700 fundraising centres, including several dozen abroad, will take to the streets. There will be more than a thousand in Wrocław alone! General surgery, cardiac surgery and neurosurgery are the departments that will receive most of the support. Plans include the purchase of essential but very expensive equipment, including operating lights and tables, monitoring equipment, diathermy machines and endoscopy sets. Postoperative intensive care units will also receive WOŚP’s support. Using the funds raised, the Foundation intends to buy incubators, ventilators, automatic syringe pumps, ultrasound scanners and echocardiography machines.

Come along and enjoy yourselves. This year, we are aiming for another record!

12 JANUARY

MARKET SQUARE STAGE:

12:00 Mikrokosmos
12:55 Nikola Warda (songs by Maryla Rodowicz)
14:00 Conga Line
15:00 Gitarowa Orkiestra
16:00 Chorzy
17:00 No Logo
18:00 Dr. Misio
19:00 Bitamina
20:00 Light to the Sky

TOWN HALL STAGE:

9:30 Warm-up
10:00 Policz się z Cukrzycą Backwards Run
12:00 All-round fitness training
12:45 Golden Retriever dog-training demonstration
13:10 Gwardia Wrocław boxing section – warm-up and exhibition bouts
13:30 Rewelacja – children’s vocal group performance
13:45 Mini Disco – disco for the youngest visitors
14:20 Gwardia Wrocław boxing section
15:00 Ściskawa – intercity challenge
15:45 Golden Retriever dog-training demonstration
16:00 Belgijka – a dance bringing Wrocław residents together
16:38 Indie Beats – Indian folk dance
17:00 Rewelacja music group
17:15 Mini Disco – disco for the youngest visitors
17:35 Indie Beats – Indian folk dance
17:45 Tomasz Peterwas – illusion show
18:15 Gwardia Gryfa – flag-waving displays

ACCOMPANYING EVENTS:

4, 5, 6 JANUARY

Winter swimming with Wrocław’s winter swimmers. Aqua aerobics – 11:00, Morskie Oko bathing area

7 JANUARY

Surgical Suturing Workshops, 13:30–15:30 and 15:30–17:30, ul. Mikulicza-Radeckiego 7

Tour of the Medical Simulation Centre, 12:00–14:00, ul. Tytusa Chałubińskiego 7a

8 JANUARY

Forensic workshops and an outdoor game, 11:00–13:00, ul. M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 52

Tour of the Medical Simulation Centre, 12:00–13:00, ul. Tytusa Chałubińskiego 7a

Surgical Suturing Workshops, 15:30–17:30 and 17:30–19:30, ul. Mikulicza-Radeckiego 9, 10

PWr students for WOŚP: talks by Szymon Potowiec, Professor Jacek Cichoń and Professor Jan Miodek, 17:00–19:00, building C-13, Wrocław University of Science and Technology

9 JANUARY

Secrets of the Human Body, a spectacular tour of the Anatomy Museum, 9:00–14:45, ul. T. Chałubińskiego 6a

“Forensic doctor – physician or detective?”, a lecture for secondary-school students, 11:00–12:30, ul. Marcinkowskiego 2-6

Tour of the Medical Simulation Centre, 12:00–13:00, ul. Tytusa Chałubińskiego 7a

Tour of the Anatomy Museum, 18:00–19:00, ul. T. Chałubińskiego 6a

Wrocław University of Science and Technology students for WOŚP: catch the wind in your sails on rowing machines, 11:00–15:00, at the university’s Student Culture Zone

10 JANUARY

Barbers for WOŚP: men’s haircuts for a donation to the collection tin, 10:00–21:00, Galeria Dominikańska

Secrets of the Human Body, a spectacular tour of the Anatomy Museum, 13:00–14:00 and 15:00–16:00, ul. T. Chałubińskiego 6a

Wrocław University of Science and Technology students for WOŚP: concerts, 19:00–21:00, at the university’s Student Culture Zone

11 JANUARY

Barbers for WOŚP: men’s haircuts for a donation to the collection tin, 10:00–21:00, Galeria Dominikańska

Winter swimming with Wrocław’s winter swimmers. Aqua aerobics, 11:00, Morskie Oko bathing area

Shantymani play for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, 19:00, Stary Klasztor

Balkan New Year’s Eve with WOŚP: celebrating New Year’s Eve according to the Julian calendar, 20:00, Stary Klasztor

12 JANUARY

I Congress of Football Coaching Knowledge, a conference on football training methods, 8:00–18:00, OH! Kino, Arkady Wrocławskie

Health Sunday: free preventive screenings, 9:00–17:00, Town Hall

Open Paediatric Surgery and Urology Clinic, 9:00–17:00, ul. M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 50/52

The 11th IKSS Indoor Football Tournament, 9:00, ul. Kamienna 35–37

“Policz się z cukrzycą” run, 10:00–11:00, Market Square

Barbers for WOŚP: men’s haircuts for a donation to the collection tin, 10:00–21:00, Galeria
Dominikańska

Painting and drawing workshops, exhibition of architecture students’ work, 10:00, Prusa 53–55

Winter swimming with Wrocław’s winter swimmers. Aqua aerobics, 11:00, Morskie Oko bathing area

Polish-Japanese WOŚP Grand Finale – a mini-festival of Japanese culture, 12:00, ul. Przelot 7

A charity dinner for Poland’s top chefs

MDK Kopernik for WOŚP: theatre and musical performances, 13:30–17:00, ul. Kołłątaja 20

Stary Klasztor plays for the WOŚP Grand Finale: concerts by Blade Loki, Hope, Pull the Wire and the Gitarowe Przeboje Wszech Czasów project, 16:00–22:00, Stary Klasztor.

▶