Watch: Glasgow’s Sikorski Polish Club celebrates 70 years in the West End

At the end of Parkgrove Terrace in the West End, just east of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, a Polish flag is strung from the facade of a blonde sandstone townhouse. This building is the lively hub for Glasgow’s Polish community that has now been active for 70 years. Gifted to the group by politicians in June 1954 thanking them for their efforts in the Second World War, members celebrated their special anniversary last weekend. 

The society was originally established as a memorial to General Wladyslaw Sikorski, once Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile and Commander-in-Chief of the Free Polish Forces. A registered Scottish charity, the club is a friendly and welcoming space for Glaswegians with Polish heritage and anyone else in the city.

It hosts a highly-regarded restaurant specialising in traditional Polish cuisine, a bar which has proved popular among local students for its fairly priced vodka, as well as a range of social groups and functions including language classes, a history club, help crisis and support groups, mother and toddler groups, music events and much more. 

Ahead of the anniversary GlasgowWorld spoke to active members Rafał Jasiński and Kamil Sznurkowski to discover more about the Polish Club.

Rafał: “The building belongs to the society. That was given to us 70 years ago by the Scottish politicians to Polish people - to soldiers and army officers who had been fighting in the Second World War and came to Scotland to fight for our freedom and your freedom.”

Kamil: “After the war there was a lot of places like this, a house for Polish soldiers, they stayed here but I think this is one of the last ones. In Scotland there are one or two more. Here we will be having our 70th anniversary. Though we are the second or third generation and we arrived here not long ago, the spirit of Polish culture is still here and we try to continue this.”

Rafał: “Basically the idea is to continue what the people started 70 years ago. That was the place for the Polish people to meet and cultivate the culture and heritage. We try to continue that by having various events and kind of cyclic type of events. We have got a Polish school, a playgroup, we’ve got a seniors club, an art club.”

Kamil: “Dancing group - practicing the classic dance which is polonaise. We have a cinema club where we show movies. We don’t want to forget about any Polish lessons here ran by teachers.”

Rafał: “We have Polish lessons for Scots or people with Polish heritage or any other nationality who have an idea to learn Polish. They can come here and learn. We have English lessons for Polish people or any other nationalities. People from Ukraine come here to use our facilities to learn English.”

The Polish Social and Educational Society is at 5 Parkgrove Terrace, Glasgow G3 7SD.