Title
Polish Community Church
Subject
Polish Community Church
Description
Helena Szoldra recalls the establishment of the first Polish church in Melton Mowbray by the Polish community after WWII.
Creator
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Source
EMOHA
Publisher
EMOHA
Date
1986
Contributor
Photograph courtesy of Zosia Biegus. To use seek permission from http://www.polishresettlementcampsintheuk.co.uk/index.htm
Rights
You may use this item in accordance with the licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/
Format
.mp3
Type
Oral History
Duration
1min 10sec
Transcription
We had a priest, Father Kotowski, he was already in Melton when I arrived in Melton in 1946 in December…after say 12 months in Melton we had a little chapel in the barrack and Father Kotowski decided he will try to build the church and of course some people were laughing. He says well, he’ll still carry on. He decided he would take, every week, from every working person, half a crown…he used to come himself every week or if he couldn’t manage to go around to see everybody he’d send somebody else and the people come and collect and we used to pay half a crown…eventually after a few years he really did and it’s a lovely church in Melton. He bought more land straight away. There was land for the church and parish hall, like community centre and now they extend it. It’s really bigger room they got in Melton than we have in Leicester.
Interviewer
N. van Heender
Interviewee
Helena Szoldra
Location
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
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