Launch event for photography exhibition: ‘Polish resettlement in Wales: From the post-war period to the present’

This event has ended.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of our guest speakers, George Stacewicz, will be unable to attend.  However, they have invited the creator of the exhibition, Rio Creech-Nowagiel, to give their presentation on their behalf on the day.

In honour of the launch of the photography exhibition, ‘Grove Park Camp (1946-57): Polish stories of resettlement in Slough’, we invite you to join us as we spotlight stories of Polish resettlement in Wales since the Second World War and reflect on the rich legacy of Polish-Welsh cultural exchange today.

Our first speaker, George Stacewicz, will offer recollections from his time spent at Penrhos, a Polish resettlement home in North Wales that became known as “Little Poland”.

Our second speaker, Dr Karolina Rosiak (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), will share her research exploring the recent history of Polish migration to Wales and cultural links between the two countries.

Information about the exhibition and its organiser can be viewed at the bottom of this page.

George Stacewicz: “Little Poland” in North Wales: Recollections of Polish Home, Penrhos

Biography
George Stacewicz was born in 1949 and grew up in Streatham, South London. His parents, Irena and Władysław, came to the UK after the Second World War, having been taken prisoner from Wilno in eastern Poland by the invading Russian army, and after a long journey through Kazahkstan and Siberia respectively, the Middle East, and Italy they eventually came to England to a resettlement camp in Surrey. His father, an army officer, had joined the allied forces under General Anders and fought in the North African and Italian campaigns, including at Monte Cassino.

After the war, the plan was always to return to a free Poland but the Communist regime there would have made it dangerous to return. This was the plight of 120,000 Polish people who settled in the UK.

George grew up in a Polish-speaking household upholding many rich traditions, and he and his sisters were brought up in two cultures. It was English during the school week, and intensely Polish at weekends! Like many second-generation Poles in the vibrant Polish community in London, George attended Polish school and Polish scouts on Saturdays and went to the Polish church on Sundays.  Later there were Polish youth clubs with trips abroad. He also joined the London Polish rugby and volleyball teams.

As his grandfather had moved to Polish Home Penrhos in the early 1950s, the family were regular visitors and in his teens George worked there during summer holidays. After he had his own family they continued to visit frequently, so when he heard that the Home was sadly to close after 70 years, George decided to write a book about his experiences and recall the remarkable Penrhos home that provided such excellent care for its residents as well as the fun times and the many wonderful characters he met along the way.

Abstract
In this memoir, George Stacewicz reflects on his personal experiences visiting Polish Home, Penrhos from a young age in the 1950s right up to 2020, when the Home finally closed after 70 years.

The Home had previously been a Royal Air Force camp until the Polish Housing Society took it over in 1949. It was to offer accommodation and full board to around 150 elderly Polish residents, many of whom had suffered terribly during the Second World War. It provided social activities, a church with resident priest, communal dining hall, a library, a shop, allotments, and so it truly became a “Little Poland”.

However, it became even more than that; it became a holiday destination for families, a summer camp for Polish cubs, guides and scouts, and provided young people (like the author himself) with temporary summer jobs.

The Home was welcomed with great warmth by the local Welsh community as well as being a provider of local employment. It meant so much to so many generations of Polish people who remember it with great affection

Karolina Rosiak: Poland and Wales: Cultural Links Past and Present

Biography
Karolina Rosiak is an assistant professor at the Celtic Studies Research Unit, Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Her research examines the sociolinguistics of the Welsh language, linguistic aspects of Polish migration to Wales, with particular focus on language attitudes and ideologies, and cultural ties between Wales and Poland.

Abstract
In this talk, the speaker will discuss Polish migration to Wales in the 20th & 21st c. and cultural links between the two countries.

According to official estimates, over 25,000 Poles live in Wales, currently constituting the most numerous non-British born ethnic group living in the country. The language can be heard all over Wales, from cities and towns to small villages. The Polish economic migration to Wales that has been taking place since 2004 when Poland joined the EU, is by far the biggest in terms of numbers but by no means the first wave of Poles who settled in Wales.

Over the years, Poles and Welsh took interest in each other’s cultures and literatures. Events such as celebrations of Polish Independence Day, Polish music nights, arts and crafts events, family picnics and food festivals have been organised all over Wales in an effort to familiarise Welsh communities with Polish culture and to establish local intercultural relations. The Welsh were also encouraged to take an interest in Polish literature through translations of John Elwyn Jones (1921-2008) and T. Hudson-Williams (1873–1961), whose Bannau Llên Pwyl published in 1953 by Gwasg Aberystwyth, is the only overview of the history of Polish literature in Welsh to date. Polish audiences were recently introduced to Welsh literature by a well-received Polish translation of Caradog Pritchard’s Un Nos Ola Leuad by Marta Listewnik. More locally, in Poznań students of local schools and universities can take part in an annual UAM Eisteddfod, which promotes Welsh literature, music and culture. These and other cultural links will be discussed in the talk.

About the exhibition
Grove Park Camp (1946-57): Polish stories of resettlement in Slough tells the story of Grove Park camp, which was one of hundreds of resettlement camps set up throughout the UK after the Second World War to accommodate displaced Polish soldiers and their families. The exhibition uses photographs held by former residents and their descendants to offer a unique window into what daily life was like for the Grove Park community, who were among the first of many generations of Polish people to settle in Slough in recent decades.  All exhibition texts appear in English and Polish.

About the organiser
Rio Creech-Nowagiel (aka Maryś) is a cultural producer and PhD student based between Cardiff University and Imperial War Museums. Their PhD project explores the (re)scripting of official and press photographs produced to document Britain’s colonial war in Malaya during the postwar period. From January-March 2022, Rio used their grandparents’ family albums as the starting point for a collecting project that involved working with members of Slough’s multigenerational Polish community and culminated in an exhibition at The Curve Library. Rio undertook this work as part of a three-month placement made possible with AHRC funding.

Event format & recording
The event will take place in person and will not be recorded.

Simultaneous Translation
The event will be delivered in the medium of English. You are welcome to ask questions in the medium of Welsh during the Q&A session. If you intend to do this, please contact mlang-events@cardiff.ac.uk by Thursday 27 October to request simultaneous translation. Please note that 10% or more of those planning to attend will need to request this provision in order for it to be sourced and will be subject to resource availability.

Registration
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