How the Anglo Polish Association started…

“Serendipity is the easiest way to explain how our society came into being. It began by my reading the local Rotherham paper in 2015. An article caught my attention about a book called Forgotten Heroes written by Peter Jalowiczor. This is a collection of WWII accounts from Polish ex-servicemen and women who settled in Rotherham after the war and charts the development of their community in the following decades. Some were unable to return to the land of their birth while under Communism, my father was one of them. I managed to buy Peter's book and was fascinated by the people who spoke of their own lives in Forgotten Heroes and the turmoil of war. I eventually tracked Peter down.

At our meeting at Peter's home, Marion Macko, our oldest Anglo-Polish Society member whom I had not met until then, seemed to remember meeting my father in the Miners' Hostel on East Herringthorpe in Rotherham probably late 1940s. What a coincidence. Following on from our first meeting, a few Polish men, women and descendants met for the first time at Mowbray Gardens Library in 2015 where we still continue to grow and meet monthly. Open to all with a Polish connection or an interest in Polish Culture and History.”

Christl Kettle