Little Poland in the British countryside

Kyt · Oct 20, 2008

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Little Poland in the British countryside

The recent influx of Poles to Britain is not the first - after the World War II thousands fled communist rule to seek sanctuary in the UK. Some ended up at a remote resettlement camp in Devon and never left.

Sandwiched between a golf course and the A38, Ilford Park is a slice of eastern Europe in the heart of the West Country. Built 60 years ago this month, at its peak the site was home to 600 exiled Polish people. No wonder then that to nearby locals it became known simply as Little Poland.

Through the decades as Poland's boundaries were redrawn, communism rose and collapsed and a democratic Poland joined the European Union, Ilford Park's residents stayed put.

The camp, near Newton Abbot, opened in September 1948 - one of 45 hostels across Britain set up to house the 200,000 exiled Poles who had fought alongside the Allies.

Today, the original inhabitants have moved to a purpose-built care home on the 41-acre site (opened in 1992 and run by the Ministry of Defence), while around them the prefab buildings of the original camp lie decaying, signs warning possible trespassers of asbestos.

Even so, with a Polish chapel, a Polish shop - delicacies include chocolate-covered plums, krowki (Polish fudge), sausages and sauerkraut - and corridors named after Polish towns and cities, the camp's unique identity lives on.

Some things, though, have changed for the better.

For the first 20 years, living conditions in the camp's breeze-block barracks were basic and inhabitants waited until 1973 for central heating.

Henry Werpachowski, 54, who today works as a carer in the home, lived in the camp until he was 15.

He remembers a central hall which "everybody had turns in cleaning" and the trials of shared living.

"We had bare walls, no plaster or anything and it was cold. There was a communal washing area and bath and you would take turns in taking a bath. You would get the Vim out and mum would scrub the bath before you got in because you would never know who'd been in before.

"And you had a little thing you used to empty as kids - down the corridor with the lid on. There were no toilet facilities in the room."

Mammoth journey

Nicknamed "Sikorski's tourists" by the Germans - after the general who negotiated an amnesty with the Soviets allowing them to leave the USSR - many of the refugees who came to Ilford had fled thousands of miles from eastern Poland (part of today's Ukraine).

It was a perilous journey which took them through Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, before arriving in Britain.

Marta Brzozowska, 84, fled with her brother and mother after her father was imprisoned by the Russians.

"I was everywhere, Palestine, Egypt, North America, England," she says.

She attended a Polish school in Nazareth for a time, before the family made their way to Britain.

Mieszyslaw Juny, 95, left Poland for Basra, Iraq, survived injury at Tobruk in Libya and a torpedo attack in shark-infested waters near the Equator, before arriving in Liverpool. He went on to train as a pilot.

He has lived in resettlement camps since the war ended. He came to Ilford Park in 1968 and went on to become its deputy manager.

By then the camp had a ballroom and English, art and embroidery lessons were held.

"But the most important thing was the communication between Polish people and British people," he says. "We started having dances twice a wee

"To begin with there was one or two or three of them but eventually there were masses of them. So the whole dancing hall was half full of British people.

"But of course the music and dances were held in the Polish traditional way - although we also danced waltzes and that sort of thing.

"So this is the reason why this place was called Little Poland. Because of the tradition held by Polish people."

Work opportunities were limited for the camp's residents. However, Young's opened a fish factory on the site of today's home, making the world's first mass-produced scampi.

"Something like 40 to 50 women and men used to work in the fish factory," recalls says Mr Juny. "But of course I didn't like it very much because it was very smelly."

Enforced integration

So why did some residents remain at the hostel for so long?

According to Henry Werpachowski, his parents could not have returned to Poland.

"Mum and Dad were from eastern Poland so their land was in a state of being taken away, annexed, so they didn't have anything to go back to. All their relatives were killed and then communism came so there wasn't a homeland to go back to."

Having said that he, his mother and sister were made to leave the camp for a Newton Abbot council house in the 1960s - a kind of enforced integration.

"But those who didn't have children, or were old or disabled could stay," he remembers.

Mieszyslaw Juny believes it was not easy for residents to find homes or work at the time.

"Don't forget that it was the end of the war, the soldiers came back, they wanted to get married and have their families so it was very difficult," he says. "There are people who've not moved from here. But these are the people who are disabled or old."

Most at the home are aware its days are numbered. Only Polish WWII veterans and their spouses are entitled to stay, and they are gradually dying out.

Their days are spent making intricate embroidery, singing traditional Polish songs and dancing Polish dances. Their Catholic faith also features highly, with a resident priest who takes services in the chapel.

It is the old Poland, the Poland they left behind, and says Mr Juny - who has never returned to his homeland - it comforts them.

"In Poland they never had any factory-made food - they always had homemade food - so the menu here will say it's Polish homemade vegetable soup.

"Very often it's not Polish-made, it's not homemade, but the title itself keeps them going."
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Kitty · Oct 21, 2008

There was a Polish resettlement camp near tome in Staffordshire, Anzio Camp, which was a WW2 US Army holding base, then used for the Polish after the war before returning to the MOD. And it seems many of the refugees stayed in the area too BBC - Staffordshire - Poles In Staffordshire Messageboard Archive

Kyt · Oct 23, 2008

Polskie Radio dla zagranicy - Poles in Wolverhampton celebrate

At the present time, many Polish Parish and Community Groups are celebrating their 60th year of existence. Our England Correspondent Jozef Lopuszyński went along to Wolverhampton where their 60th Anniversary celebrations took place over the weekend.

After the Second World War, Polish People who had been allowed to stay in Great Britain began to organise themselves into their own communities in collaboration with the Polish Catholic Mission.

As a result, many Polish Parish and Community groups are currently celebrating their 60th year of existence. On Sunday, it was the turn of the Wolverhampton Community to celebrate this achievement.

Though these communities blossomed and thrived, at the start, times were hard and difficult. Antoni Rudzki was there at the beginning:

'The idea came about that we have got to find a Catholic church in Wolverhampton which would be prepared to let us hold Polish Masses. That church was St. Peter and Paul's in Wolverhampton. Meanwhile, Father Narcyz Turulski settled in Wolverhampton in private digs and our duty now was to find those soldiers who had dispersed throughout Wolverhampton and to tell them about the Masses being held in Wolverhampton.

The Community grew, so we moved to St. Patrick's which was a larger church and offered further facilities in the Community Centre that was adjacent to St Patrick's Church.'

And then you moved to the current premises in Stafford Road. Why was that?

'St Patrick's was earmarked for the Inner Ring Road of Wolverhampton and hence it was demolished.'

From its inception, the Wolverhampton Polish Community grew rapidly with many activities and groups for people to join. Stanislaw Tyszka explains: 'We had some theatres coming to our Club, we had some festivals of music and so on. We had some sport. We had a football club, we had a netball club, we had a basketball club. We had something like a 3rd of May, or November (11th) and such like. Memories of our patriotism and of what was going on in Poland of those days.'

Krysia Nosek joined the Wolverhampton Polish Community's Ignacy Paderewski Choir as a 14 year old teenager. Now, over 30 years later she is its conductor. You must have seen many changes.

'Yes. When I first joined at 14, the choir was fifty strong - both men and women. We used to sing at church events, at National events. Nowadays we have only twenty o0f the original members left. It's very sad, but while they're still ready to sing, and enjoy their singing, I'm sure we'll carry on with the choir for many years to come.'

No Polish Community in Britain without its Scouting Movement. In Wolverhampton this was started by Mr. Mrowczyński, to be later joined by Henryka Lappo. Her daughter has many wonderful memories.

'Yes, I have lots of wonderful memories: Going on camping, Trips with the Scouts, But my most memorable one was when I went to Italy to Monte Cassino in 1969 for a Scout Jamboree to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Battle, which General Anders attended on quite a few occasions.'

'Actually it happened sixty-two years ago, I started Polish Scouting here in Wolverhampton and led it till now.'

'My name is Monsignor Tadeusz Kukla. I am the Vicar-delegate for Poles in England and Wales. I came to this Community in Wolverhampton where we have celebrated the 60th Anniversary of its existence.

We were thanking God for the Community. We were thanking God for those people who have built this beautiful community, and worked and worshiped for so many years.

I was very glad to see some people who were at the beginning of this Community. I thanked them in the Church, and I decorated some of them with the special medal of the Polish Catholic Mission, for the merits in building this Polish Community in England in Wolverhampton.'
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