Melton Museum looks at Polish post-war community

The display, called ‘Coming to Britain: The Polish Post-War Community in Leicestershire’ has been designed to look at how the war impacted the community and the effect it had on the county’s social, cultural and economic history. It also includes the Allianz video ‘Draw Our Amazing Life’ starring Szczepan and Helena Woytak.

The exhibition has been created thanks to a national archives traineeship community project that took place in 2013. During the project, ‘alien’ registration cards from the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Record Office were catalogued.

A community show case cabinet will be on display at the museum, providing residents with the chance to include memories and items from their own heritage or journey to Britain as part of the exhibition.

The full archive accompanying the exhibition is available to view by appointment at the museum and the Record Office in Wigston. The archive includes interviews and transcripts in both English and Polish languages, on a range of topics including leaving Poland; settling in Great Britain and working and living in Leicestershire.

An online oral history archive with members of Melton’s Polish community is also available at https://soundcloud.com/melton-carnegie-museum.

The display runs until March 26.

The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday (10am-4.30pm), admission is free. For more information call 0116 3053860 or email [email protected]