It has all started 50 years ago.

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At the end of the war a serious question arose, what to do with the Polish forces, which were still under arms as part of the Allied forces.

 

At first the British Government tried to persuade the Polish Government-in-exile in London that the best solution would be to demobilise everybody serving in the west and have them return to Poland. A great majority of those serving in Polish units in the west were from the part of Poland that was now under Russian control, thanks to the Yalta agreement. They had sampled the delights of Siberia for two years, so they were not eager to live through that again. In the end British Government agreed that those not willing to go back will be demobilised here and allowed to stay.

 

Besides the forces that came out of the Soviet Union in 1942 into Persia and the Middle East, there were thousands of women and children that managed to escape as well. The forces stayed in the Middle East, preparing to go to the front, but women and children were evacuated to India and Africa, with some staying in Palestine and Lebanon. The agreement also provided a right for the relatives to come to the UK to be reunited here.

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Furnishing the camp

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Since the British Army was being demobilised, there were quite a number of army camps that were vacant. These were allocated to the Polish army from Italy and Germany. How it came about that the RAF station at Melton Mowbray was picked for one of Polish Resettlement Corps camps I could not tell you. This was to be the only Polish Resettlement Corps camp for Polish Air Force personnel and their relatives. In summer of 1946, I was posted from RAF station Denholme Lodge to RAF station Melton Mowbray. On arrival we were told that the station has to be prepared for receiving civilian relatives of Polish Air Force personnel from various locations. The only sites that were furnished were the SHQ site, the WAAF’s site with concrete barracks on the opposite side of the road (which still stand today), the Sergeants Mess on Dalby Road, the airmen’s dining hall, and the officers’ quarters and mess on Site 3 nearest the airfield.

 

My first assignment was to furnish Site 1 on Dalby Road. At that time Nissen huts were in their original state - i.e. one room with cast iron stove in the middle, to be furnished with up to ten beds with mattresses, pillows, blankets, and some wardrobes and cupboards. All ex-RAF stuff. In the corner of the site was one large Nissen hut with some bathtubs, showers and hot and cold water taps. Toilets were brick build outbuildings located on the site.

 

 At the entrance to the site was picket post which we adapted as our site office. Civilians started arriving in Autumn 1946 and Site 1 was the first to be rapidly filled in.

 

I was then moved to Site 2 on Sandy Lane. The facilities were the same as on Site 1. I even went to London with FL/LT Semmerling and two WAAFs to meet a bigger transport coming from Germany for which a special train was laid on from London to Melton Mowbray.

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Winter 1946-47

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The uniformed staff on the site were: a F/O.W/O, a Sergeant, three airmen and two WAAFs. The 1946-47 winter was exceptionally cold for a very long period, which caused a lot of problems. In the first place the toilets being unheated were frozen solid. There was shortage of coal and coke due to delivery problems in arctic conditions, so all we allocated per Nissen hut per day was 1 bucket full of coke. Now you can imagine how long fire lasted in a half-filled stove. Of course Polish people, being very resourceful, soon found that they could buy electric boiling rings and keep them burning to keep the frost out…. Unfortunately, that overloaded the power lines of the station so much that we were ordered to confiscate such equipment, if we found it. I remember that there were children and infants living in those conditions. I also remember the hedge in front of the sergeant’s mess was hardly visible from under the snow.

 

I think all the civilians came under the assistance board, until they found employment. The only transport available was your own pair of legs. I think the Polish community in Melton in 1947 numbered about 1500 souls. In 1947, I was posted to RAF station North Luffenham and then a few other places. I came back to Melton in Dec 1948. Out of uniform, since uniformed personnel were all gone by then.

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Moving Out

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The camp was run by an assistance board warden. While I was away, Nissen huts had been modified, with partitions put in to make one room family accommodation with cast iron cooking stove. Later, we even had cold running water and a sink installed. Gradually people started moving out to neighbouring bigger towns in search of work and then came the emigration to Canada, USA, and Australia.

 

In mid fifties rumours started circulating that the camp will be liquidated so everyone must look for alternative accommodation. When you consider that all had arrived in this country with only the clothing on their backs and the only work they could get at the start was manual labour, how did they manage to save enough, during a maximum of 10 years, for a deposit on a house? And that’s what came next – house buying. Those that in the end could not do it, were given council accommodation. I moved out at the end of 1958. When exactly was the camp closed I cannot remember but it must have been in the early sixties, if not earlier.

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The Polish Church

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In the early sixties, Father Kotowski proposed building our own church. I think the plot in Sandy Lane was bought from the council. Plans were made and planning permission granted. Foundations were dug and concreted by community members. The building itself was done by a building company. The Church was consecrated in 1963.

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We were lucky there was a vacant plot by the side of the church. I think it was also owned by the council. We bought it and built a Polish Club in 1968. This we did from scratch ourselves. Today the Polish community in Melton numbers about 350-400. I was asked to do this because I was here before it all started. After 50 years I am supposed to remember it all.

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by Marian Wrzyszcz