Two landmark anniversaries celebrated at Kirkcaldy’s Polish Club

It welcomed guests from far and near to a special event Bennochy House in Forth Park Drive last weekend.

The club now runs its own affairs under the auspices of Bennochy Community Hub SCIO, securing its future after its previous London based owners looked to put it on the market in 2021.

The club was founded by Polish veterans unable to return home after the Second World War. Seventy years on, the club is still a cultural and social hub for the soldiers’ descendants as well as a new generation of Polish migrants.

Guests at the event included Piotr Wilczek, the Polish Ambassador to the UK, as well as politicians and community groups. Mr Wilczek met with Melanie Ward MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy.

She said: “We reflected on the invaluable contribution of the Polish community to Fife and to Scotland as a whole, as well as the rich cultural influence in Kirkcaldy—including the fantastic Polish Club Kirkcaldy, who we congratulate on their 70th year.”

The club is home to a number of comm unity groups as well as a busy Polish School, and the long established Kirkcaldy Acoustic Music Club which hosts regular live concerts.

John Hamilton, president of the Polish Club, said: “We have forged good relations with London and we are now operating independently. We have had the support of a lot of organisations and we do have plans for the future which I hope will come to fruition.”