Shock closure of Polish club

Ali Powell • Published 3 Jul 2008 12:00 Comments 1 Comment

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CHURCH authorities were yesterday accused of betraying Reading's Polish community over the shock closure of its social club.

Last Saturday's shutdown was ordered by Father Jerzy Januszkiewicz, parish priest of the nearby Church of the Sacred Heart, on instructions from the Polish Catholic Mission in London which owns the land and buildings.

But former club secretary Ewa Wruszczak said: "We are absolutely fuming. I am gutted, we are all very upset in the Polish community and disgusted at the way this has happened."

Mrs Wruszczak, from Sherwood Street, says the London Road club was built up by Polish people, including chairman Zenek Rakowicz, when they arrived in England and were among the first 200 families from Poland to settle in Reading.

She said: "They all worked hard and poured their own money into the club but on the deeds there could only be one owner. We trusted the church and so the Polish Benevolent Fund, now the Mission, was named as the owner.

"The club is on parish premises and there were lots of legal issues about the sale of alcohol two years ago which were sorted out. When it was mentioned at the AGM a month ago my husband asked the priest why he wanted to close the club. The priest denied it and said he didn't want the club to close.

"This has happened without any warning. What about everything that is inside the club? There are agreements with the brewery, fruit machines, administration, they can't even contact members because the numbers are inside and the locks have been changed."

Mrs Wruszczak said: "Everyone trusted the church with the club and this is what has happened. Three years ago the club was approached by a developer but said straight away that we weren't interested, now we are wondering.

"The Polish community and the English community use the club. We have darts and cards teams, fishing clubs and our Polish football team has not one Pole on the team, but they are based with us and play with our Polish emblem which is wonderful.

"It is a whole community together. This is the way the Polish church thanks the people for all their hard work."

An extraordinary general meeting of members takes place at Zenek Rakowicz's house this evening (Thursday).

Son Andrew, vice-chairman of the non-profit making club, said: "It is cowardly the way that they have done it. There were new laws brought in and they say we do not comply with the clause CC27. It doesn't make sense."

Fr Januszkiewicz said the Mission, which regulates Polish parishes throughout Britain, made the ruling but the final straw came last week when police were at the hall until 3am after trouble erupted at a travellers' party.

He said: "We had to close the club. It was a parish club and the parish is not allowed to support it financially but the club was not making profits and we were paying for the lights, heating and insurance.

"It is not a pleasure to me to do this but I had to do it, I had no choice. I had an order from London.

"The club did not comply with the law and then we had things like the travellers at the hall and the police being called out. I can't describe what it was like.

"The club will open again in a few weeks. There will be a contract and that person with the contract will run the club and will have to pay an agreed amount to the church. I don't think that it will affect the community too much."

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 03 Jul 08

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