Wednesday 21st October 7.30pm
Evesham Town Hall
L-R Back Row – Me, Slavek Andryka, Patryk Dolega, Cllr Alan Booth Mayor of Evesham, Jan Mokrzycki, Sebastian Nitkowski Chris Brooks, Natalia Zak and Helen Gray. In the front row, its Karen Satterly, Wendy, Halina Kiedrowska, Anna Nitkowski and Clair Chittenden from the Volunteer Centre.
The Polish community in and around Evesham is a very important sector of the population and numbers some 2500 people. An association was identified as a body who could represent that community at various levels locally and nationally. Chris Brookes at WDC has worked very hard over a long period and has successfully obtained a grant from the Migration Impacts Fund which will go towards supporting migrant workers throughout Worcestershire. This grant is from migrants own contributions paid via their contributions to the workers registration scheme and not from general taxation.
Jan Mokrzycki, the main speaker, is deputy president of the Federation of Poles in the UK. Jan is a tireless supporter of Polish community associations. He came to the UK in 1946, having lost many of his family to the Nazis. He lives in Leamington, so is a neighbour!
I was asked to formally open the proceedings and take the chair for the voting in of the committee. I even attempted some Polish!
I said:-
Dobry wieczór i Wychavon — Zapraszamy!
Good Evening and Welcome to Wychavon
Ona daje mi wielką przyjemność oficjalnie Otwórz to pierwsze spotkanie i pomagać Uruchom Polskie Zrzeszenie wspólnotowego
It gives me great pleasure to officially open this first meeting and to help launch the Polish Community Association
Seriously, I am sure you’re English is far superior to my Polish but in what ever language you care to choose, you are very welcome here in Evesham and indeed in Wychavon District. May I also welcome guests Jan Mokrzycki who will be spreaking to us about his experiences in the UK, Anna Rojek who will be singing for us and Piotr Szapowicz who will be speaking about the Saturday School
It is my job tonight to help you to get your association under way. So without further ado, and with your permission I think we will move to the election of Chairman……. Can I have nominations please………..
The voting followed and the committee elected looks like this:-
Polish Community Association – management committee
Chairman
Halina Kiedrowska
Vice Chairman
Sebastian Nitkowski
Secretary
Karen Satterley
Treasurer
Slavek Andryka
Welfare Officers
Anna Nitkowski
Patryk Dolega
Committee Members
Natalia Zak
Dominika Lipska
Anna Rojek
Hanske Zbigniew
And now some more photos:-
Chris Brooks explains the format for the evening
My attempt at Polish causes much amusement. Guest speaker Jan Mokrzycki looks on.
New Chairman Halina Kiedrowska making her acceptance speech
the meeting was very well attended
entertainment in the form of singer Anna Rojek
