Commemorative Plaque

The Unveiling of a Commemorative Plaque at the site of the Former Polish Hostel, Fairford, 30^th May 2009.

On a beautiful summer day about 200 Polish visitors, attended the unveiling of the Polish Hostel commemorative plaque at the Pitham Path Gate on Leafield Road on Saturday 30th May. The plaque was funded by the Polish Ex-Combatants Association of Great Britain and was the brainchild of Mrs Alicja Swiątek Christofides. Alicja and several other people attending the ceremony were born in the Polish Hostel at Fairford. The plaque was placed at what used to be the main entrance to the Hostel thanks to the generous support of the Ernest Cook Trust, who now owns the land.

Until Saturday, 30^th May, there was nothing at all in the pretty rural landscape just outside Fairford, to indicate that between 1947 and 1959, over 1,250 Polish people were housed here.

A plan of the site of the former ‘Polish Hostel’ at Fairford.

The commemorative plaque is by the gate to Pitham Path, this view is looking towards the gate and main road. Barracks once stood where the rape now grows.

So it was a particularly significant event on Saturday when over 200 Polish and local people came to commemorate 50 years since the closure of the camp, with the unveiling of a plaque and a reception with an exhibition of photographs, accounts and background history at the beautiful, newly- restored historic building which is now Fairford Community Centre.

Maurice Jones, the Town Crier, introduced speeches by Joe Cusack, the Mayor of Fairford, Czesław Maryszczak, Chairman of the Polish Ex-Combatants Association of Great Britain and World Federation, Nicholas Ford, Secretary to the Trustees of the Ernest Cook Trust Father Philip Beisly, parish priest of St Thomas of Canterbury in Horcott, June Lewis Jones, President of the FHS and Geoff Hawkes

Mayor of Fairford Joe Cusack, Mr Czesław Maryszczak, Nicholas Ford, Father Philip Beisly and local historian June Lewis Jones

Mayor of Fairford Joe Cusack and Mr Czesław Maryszczak, Chairman of the Ex Combatants Association of Great Britain and also of the World Federation.

Past residents and friends who came to take part in the ceremony

Our special guest on May 30^th was Mr Czesław Maryszczak, Chairman of the Ex Combatants Association of Great Britain and also of the World Federation. The others who gave speeches at the event near the site of the former chapel were the Mayor of Fairford (Joe Cusack), Father Beisly (the current Catholic priest at the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, where most of the couples at the former camp got married), and a representative from the Ernest Cook Trust, which owns the land where the hostel had been and who gave permission for the erection of a plaque. Also, there were two representatives from Fairford History Society, one of whom was the local historian, June Lewis Jones, who will now enlarge the section about the Polish Hostel in the forthcoming new edition of her book, ‘The Cotswolds at War’.

Unveiling of the plaque.

After the ceremony

The photographic exhibition of life in the camp created great interest and excitement as people recognised them selves from years gone by.

The day was a time of many re-unions. The reception and exhibition provided an opportunity for people to talk, remember and add photographs to the project. Thank you to everyone who attended, some even from the USA and Belgium, and to those who lent photographs and recollections in order to record this important piece of history of the Polish people in the UK. It was also interesting for local English people, some of whom remembered the camp and who contributed their memories to the archives.


The day will be remembered not only for the warm sunshine but for many emotional reunions of people, some of whom had not seen each other since the camp closed in 1959.