Beginnings

In the spring of 1948 the first to settle in Leamington Spa were the family of A. Czarnecki and three single men: Sylwester Zakrzewski, Stanislaw Czarzasty and Antoni Chmiel. The following year 103 Polish soldiers, including Walerian Przeniczka and Michal Piesik, were brought from camps in Yorkshire to work on nearby farms, and were housed at the former Bridge End War Agricultural Committee Camp, formerly a German or Italian POW camp. Here Polish religious services were held by Monsignor Celestyn Sowinski. This camp soon closed and the residents transferred to Greatheed Road War Agricultural Committee Camp in Leamington Spa. Although not an exclusively Polish camp, being also home to Latvians and Ukranians, it was here that in May 1950 the first Polish Sunday Mass in Leamington Spa, was said by Monsignor Celestyn Sowinski. This has been a religious and social focal point for the Polish community ever since. Since early 1950 the congregation had been growing due to an influx of people from Polish Resettlement Corps camps at Marlborough Farm (Mikolaj Zarzycki), Long Marston (Stefan Wincenty Librowski), Ladbroke and Avon Carrow (Mieczyslaw Lepkowski). A significant group in the community at the time, were the former soldiers from Finham Park Hostel in Coventry, who had originally come to work at the electricity power station in Warwick in late 1947. They gradually moved into accommodation in Leamington Spa, but despite being geographically dispersed they still considered themselves a single unit, both at work and at the weekly Mass. It was therefore to them that Stanislaw Czarzasty addressed a proposal to set up the first Polish organisation in the town.

The first meeting took place at 37, Charlotte Street, where Stanislaw Pierozynski was renting a room from Mrs Hood. Four people turned up and a "zarzad" (committee) was elected, made up of Stanislaw Czarzasty (secretary), Stanislaw Pierozynski (treasurer), Aleksander Sawczyc and Wladyslaw Wozniak (recruitment). The proper Polish word for committee "komitet", has always been avoided in Leamington Spa, because of its communist connotations. Thanks to Mrs Hood's influence, the committee obtained permission to use Flavels' sports field. This resulted in the formation of the Syrena football team, managed by A. Czarnecki and captained by E. Pietrecki. At first the house at 37, Charlotte Street was used as a changing room, and a venue for committee meetings and social functions, to which the mayor of Leamington was once invited. Later, two large rooms were leased on the first floor of 2, Victoria Terrace, a property owned by a man called Goebbels, ironically a Jew. The Syrena sports club became the first Polish Centre in Leamington. Two table tennis teams were formed, "Syrena A" and "Syrena B", which played in the local league, and trained on the club’s own tables at Victoria Terrace. The Syrena Club was never exclusively Polish, having a membership made up of Czechs, Lithuanians, Latvians and Ukranians. After Jan Niedziolek arrived in Leamingon, he became manager, and the Syrena football team started playing matches outside the local area, taking supporters with them and becoming quite successful. Unfortunately, the desire to win meant that players were brought in from outside the area, meaning that local men couldn’t get a game and therefore didn’t see the point in paying the fairly expensive membership fees. Consequently, after only a few years the Syrena club folded, and the teams associated with it disbanded.