Independence Day concert

 I was roped in by by my colleague Monika to help with supervising a young people's concert in POSK to commemorate Polish Independence Day. Polish Independence Day in Poland clashes every year with Armistice Day in the UK, and both even ocurred in the same year - 1918 - at the end of the First World War. In the past 10 years I had participated in the annual marchpast the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Initially, as Chairman of the Friends of Polish Veterans' Association, I had organized the Polish contingent in that march. Later, I just participated, However, this year I took a break as I thought my presence superfluous, now that I have resigned as Chairman, Nevertheless, I felt it difficult to refuse Monika's plea, as she was organizing this on behalf of the Federation of Poles in GB. Also Albina was still away in Poland recuperating in a health spa, so I was free to follow my own devices.

Actually Monika, and her friend Agnieszka, had organized everything, by decorating the hall and preparing a programme with a couple of Polish Saturday schools. All I had to do was to make an appearance at a Mass commemoraating Independence Day in the Polish "garrison" church in Hammersmith and then steer the VIPs into the front two rows of seats in the theatre. That included a female consul, a military attache, and several female chairs of Polish education organizations, as well as the heads of the two participating schools. Easy peasy. I watched the performing children with interest. Those from the Forest Hill school performed in several groups representing different classes, and they gave a spirited performance of the history of Poland from the loss of independence in the XVIIth century to its restoration more than 120 years later. Those from the Panufnik Music School performed as individuals, either singing or playing instruments, and displayed a variety of artistic levels, as well as different strata of self-confidence. Also an 11 year old boy came on stage as an individual to give a solo performance on a Vilnian xylophone. 

Yet their Polish language was largely fluent and accent free, despite the fact they were largely born in England, and a sizeable proportion of them came from mixed families. You could tell that from the non-Polish surnames of some of the young performers, and occasionally from a darker hue in their skin colour. Young Polish families are certainly integrating, but luckily not assimilating. They live in an English environment at school, yet their Polish language and culture remains intact. So nothing has changed that much from my childhood, although there were fewer mixed marriages then, and certainly no intermixing of races. For a start, there were no black or Indian families in the country for them to mix with.  

Every time I see these children perform I have feelings of regret that I was never able to coax Sandro into going to a Polish saturday school. He had problems adjusting to any establishment at the time, not just Polish school or scouts. However as a result he seems to remain largely oblivious to his Polish roots, still speaking in Polish occasionally with his mother. I have no sense that any of my rich Polish heritage will pass on to him or his children (if any) in the future. Of course, he now has a Polish passport, but that was largely to make it easier to travel and possibly settle in future in Finland, following Brexit.