Echoes of a lost Village

“Echoes of a Lost Village – remembering the Polish History of Penley” Review.

Last Thursday evening, Rebecca Griffiths gave a short talk to Audlem History Society focussing on the Rainbow Foundation, a charity honouring the legacy of Polish settlers in Penley, a village just over the border in Wales on the Whitchurch/ Wrexham road.

Rebecca herself is of Czech and East Polish descent, and grew up at Penley, and is working towards raising awareness of the settlement. There are events planned for May 2027 with a cultural festival, and in the meantime they are collecting oral histories, liaising with schools and devising a walking tour of the area.

At its peak there were over 2000 people living in the village, housed in barracks from World War 2 as it was originally a U.S. army base. We were shown slides of Penley comparing then and now, and of the various facilities, such as hospitals and nurseries. Not much English was spoken by the Polish people there, who kept the traditional way of life going for over 30 years after the War.

There was a lively question and answer session when the talk ended, as several members of the audience had Polish connections, or had been at school at Penley during this period, and Rebecca was keen to collect as much anecdotal evidence as possible for the Penley project.

Brenda Smethurst.