Posts by Tim Bucknall

Tim Bucknall

30 Sep 2012

History / Free Poland Forces in Great Britain - Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire 1939-45 [6]

Hi All,
hope this is the right sub forum, its Polish history of a sort even though it happened in Newcastle Staffs,
My elderly father remembers the Polish officers in Newcastle with their unique multi cornered hats, very polite manners and (to him) "unusual" way of holding a cigarette.

I was wondering if anyone knew where they were based/stationed? and what happened to them after 1945

He showed me the former site of the Polish Club (now the conservative club) which once had a huge white Eagle out front, apparently you could buy Vodka that would blow your head off!

I guess i should introduce myself, I don't really have a connection to Poland apart from my admiration for The Country, which i probably inherited from my Dad.

Still to this day he's seething about how we let Poland down after the war and he made sure i was aware of how much we owed to the Polish Pilots who flew in the battle of Britain.

My Mum used to work for an exiled Polish family so we got Solidarnosc T-shirts etc when i was growing up which raised my awareness.

I visit the Katyn Monument at Cannock fairly regularly, i have Hay fever so instead of flowers I left 2 flower holders which i'm hoping will survive the winter.

its a very special place, its impossible not to be moved by the monument. but I wouldn't call it depressing, its peaceful and dignified.

when i was last there a very young girl had left a few small flowers which i found really poignant. - i was last there the day a Girl was bitten by a grass snake, i wonder if that ambulance ever turned up?

I'm finding Polish harder to learn than Czech but i will not be defeated!
I love the reaction i get from Polish Pharmacists and Shop keepers in Congleton & Crewe when i say a few words of Polish!
I read some terrible racist rubbish in the Daily Mail about immigration which makes me even more determined to show them they're welcome here

Morrisons in Leek sell the Polish Daily so i buy that when we shop.

When the wall came down me and my family had planned all the places we wanted to see, but we only managed Prague before i became seriously ill, so i'm a frustrated globe trotter

I was really happy in 2004 when the EU expanded and Poles, Slovaks etc started arriving in England.
Crewe used to be a depressing dump before 2004 IMO but i love what its become, Polish Deli shops, barbers, corner shops, Polish signs everywhere. its a real pleasure to visit Crewe now

If i can learn Polish i'll have a good chance of being able to use it enough to help me remember it, something i couldn't do with Czech back in the 90's

anyway i'll draw to a close
all the best
Tim

Tim Bucknall

13 Oct 2012

Language / Is it possible to learn Polish while not living in Poland? If yes, how? [37]

Hi Catsoldier,
I think you're in Europe in which case i recommend PR1 on 225khz Long wave, depending on how much electrical interference there is where you live, you may be able to hear it 24hrs a day.

you can't beat radio for really submerging yourself in a language, just leave it on in the background while you're doing stuff and you'll be surprised how much you remember.

alternatively you could buy one of those cheap little fm transmitters off ebay and rebroadcast a Polish web stream round your house and garden to tune into on a normal radio.

I've done this with R Znad Wili 103.8

I'm using the "Teach yourself Polish" audio Course 2nd hand off amazon, its perfect for my needs,
best of luck
tim

Tim Bucknall

13 Oct 2012

UK, Ireland / Polish Pirate Radio Station In Nottingham 87.5 FM ca.2008 [8]

Anyone else ever hear this? I never found out what it was called.
the odd thing about it was that they were using a Horizontally polarised aerial so you couldn't really listen to it in the car

all the best
Tim

Tim Bucknall

13 Oct 2012

Language / Is it possible to learn Polish while not living in Poland? If yes, how? [37]

I used to watch POLSAT - Polish News on cable and found while I was studying the language that I could understand MORE the LESS I focused on trying to understand and simply allowed the language to 'sink in':-)

agreed 100%.

it would be great if BBC4 started showing a subtitled Polish series like they do with Italian & French series, I bet Montalbano has done wonders for people learning Italian.

TVP must have some good crime dramas, c'mon BBC sort it out!

Tim Bucknall

14 Oct 2012

UK, Ireland / Polish Pirate Radio Station In Nottingham 87.5 FM ca.2008 [8]

I'm not against it, i've dabbled myself
when i joined up here i remembered it and wondered if anyone actually listened to it
would be nice to put a name to it even after all this time
i send logs of Pirate stations to the British DX club

martial law? well our airwaves are over regulated compared to the USA or New Zealand

my radio stuff:

thepiratearchive.net/forum/
skywaves.info
ww.fmlist.org

Tim Bucknall

14 Oct 2012

UK, Ireland / Polish Pirate Radio Station In Nottingham 87.5 FM ca.2008 [8]

there used to be one in London called Polskie Radio London on 99.2 IIRC, i never got to hear that sadly. I have no idea what kind of music it played.

it was reported in radio magazines for about 6 months in 2004/5 then vanished forever.
the Leeds one is interesting to me as sometimes i can hear the west yorkshire pirates if they pick a good channel - Genesis 90.4, Peoples fm when it was 104.5

its very rare a pirate with a tiny transmitter will seriously interfere with a legal station.

I'm surprised theres not been a Polish pirate in Crewe, its not like theres a legal community service for Polish speakers. Everyone
(including my local paper) assumes Red Shift Radio in Crewe is named after the Polish colours, but i've never heard any Polish on it.

Tim Bucknall

22 Nov 2012

History / Memos show US hushed up Soviet crime against Poland [97]

American and British failure to challenge Stalin in 1943 is understandable, but by 1951 there was no good reason why this atrocity couldn't have been exposed

supposedly they wanted Soviet help to end the Korean war. (according to tv news reports)

but no such excuse existed in 1979 when the Labour government tried to block the construction of the Katyn Memorial at Cannock,
Luckily the people of cannock told "Sunny Jim" Callaghan to get stuffed and built the monument anyway. no labour politicians were present for the dedication ceremony

Katyn Monument- pse excuse my deranged expression. i hadn't slept!

Tim Bucknall

22 Nov 2012

History / Memos show US hushed up Soviet crime against Poland [97]

before talk of moving on, there needs to be a thorough and complete acceptance by the Russian government of what happened, and they need to stick to it for longer than 5 minutes and not randomly sanction a piece in some provincial newspaper questioning the facts when they think no one will notice. they also need to stop looking for an "anti-katyn" to use against Poland, such as the Russian POWs who died from disease outbreaks in the 20s. Many people don't even know about Katyn.

when i was at high school in the early 90's our school textbooks were anti Polish and pro- soviet, assuming that most of the kids in my class wouldn't have cared enough to check the facts there will be many people out there who think that Poland randomly attacked the soviet union in 1919 for no reason at all, that was the impression the left wing school text books left me with until i grew up and found the truth - thanks Norman Davies!

Tim Bucknall

22 Nov 2012

History / Memos show US hushed up Soviet crime against Poland [97]

And yes, everyone in PL has heard about it.

indeed, its the rest of the world that doesn't know. i've lost count of how many times i've had to explain to brits

Tim Bucknall

25 Nov 2012

History / Memos show US hushed up Soviet crime against Poland [97]

its true that you could argue that theres no reason why Brits should know abut Katyn, compared to the example you gave
but since my school history books felt the need to tell me how much the poor USSR suffered in WWII i'd like a bit of balance.

i suspect that these anti- Polish distortions are still being propagated, My Mum recently got a accesible history book from the Library for herself, the title was something like WWII made easy it was written by some teacher and when it got to sept 39 it questioned why Churchill and Britain would want to support a country that "engaged in reckless diplomacy"

The lack of interest in Katyn is symbolic of this wierd anti- Polish viewpoint. that seems to persist in Academic circles.
i guess thats why it bothers me.

last month when that supposed historian Eric Hobsbawn died i was disgusted by the tributes he received from Politicians here, this man went to his grave defending the Molotov-ribbentrop plan and the invasion of Finland

it was left to Anne Applebaum to mention his support for Stalin.

One of the things i admire about Poles is that they don't constantly whine about their history like for example Armenians do, but theres a balance, you can educate people about Katyn without taking on a victim-stance and guilt tripping the world

Channel 4 has in the last few years shown some brilliant programmes about Katyn & the Polish Pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain.

I'm getting Halik Kochanskis book the eagle unbowed for xmas, anyone read it?

Tim Bucknall

26 Nov 2012

Life / did/does Polish TV show any British Sitcoms? [35]

and if so were they popular over there, does the humour translate?
i'm thinking of Last of the summer wine (the early series were best), Rising Damp, Steptoe & Son, Father Ted, Red Dwarf, Porridge, Open all hours, Dads Army, Black Books, Blackadder?

excluding Mr Bean, which i know gets screened everywhere
I've always wondered about this

Tim Bucknall

26 Nov 2012

Life / Why is Prostitution still legal in Poland? [106]

i'm not exactly sure of the legal situation in the UK, but sometime ago i read an excellent editorial in the Times by Jenni Russel about Sex & Disability, that explained how people who're very disabled/ill can really benefit from a visit to a well organised clean brothel or from a sex worker if they're housebound. theres even a website called TLC devoted to matching up the disabled with Responsible sex workers, i think you'd have to be a pretty unfeeling person to argue that this is harmful and should be banned.

obviously the trafficking aspect is hideous and must be stamped out but. as far as prostitution itself. there should be a blind eye turned to repsonsible/clean places, otherwise we penalize the most isolated and lonely in society

Tim Bucknall

26 Nov 2012

Life / did/does Polish TV show any British Sitcoms? [35]

thats amazing! how does the Mr Crabtree Character work in Polish? you know: "i was just ******* by..."
i was amazed to find that was shown in Belgium, i can't get my head round how that would work in another language!

aaah keeping up appearances, written by the Brilliant Roy Clarke, i guess theres snobs everywhere so that would travel well.
i imagine his more Yorkshire- based stuff like Last of the summer wine or Open all hours may not translate as well.

cable or terrestrial, i'm interested in either if they've been dubbed or subtitled in Polish

thanks for such a quick reply

Tim Bucknall

26 Nov 2012

History / Memos show US hushed up Soviet crime against Poland [97]

sadly I'm afraid bankrupt and knackered Britain couldn't do much to help Poland in 1945 imo- we were no longer a first rate world power

the only way we'd have been able to change things is if we'd cleared North Africa quicker launched D-Day earlier and reached Central Europe before the Red Army

Roosevelt could have applied some pressure but he was so unwell as to be unfit for office by 1945. the guy didn't have enough blood flow to his brain to think properly and he was obsessed with getting the UN off the ground- for which he needed Stalin

he did at least raise the matter of Lvov with Stalin (which surprised me) but didn't pursue it

it goes without saying that the useless talking shop of the UN wasn't worth abandoning Poland

Churchill has stated that he did "love bomb" Stalin because he didn't want Stalin to be able to blame the US & UK for not keeping his promises on Polish elections etc

regarding Polands pre-war behaviour, (this thread is going to converge with the highlanders thread!) you could make make a moral case for most of the territory they wanted due to the large Polish population. IMO so much trouble was caused because the Versailles treaty stated there should be a Polish state without defining its borders. so there was bound to be conflict with its neighbours

i think it goes without saying that any promises from Hitler or Stalin would have been worthless

if anyone wants a readable but fairly accurate account of the Yalta conference. you might consider Michael Dobbs novel "Churchills Triumph"- yes unfortunate title and crass ending but he did his homework and judging by the user names on this board a few people here have read it

Tim Bucknall

27 Nov 2012

History / Memos show US hushed up Soviet crime against Poland [97]

once again i'm amazed and blown away by the new information i've learned since joining up here

the 1945 election was terrible for a lot of our allies overseas like the Karen in Burma, because Attlee didn't care about foreign affairs

My dad said something interesting to me, he was moaning about always being hungry in 1939-1945, obviously thats not much suffering compared to Poland but i played Devils advocate and said so was it worth being hungry to try to save Poland? and he said, "yes, because it wasn't such an abstract concept, the Poles were stationed in town so you could understand what the war was for"

Dad was too young to vote in 1945 but it would be nice to think that lots of people could have been persuaded to fight on

Tim Bucknall

28 Nov 2012

Life / Why is Prostitution still legal in Poland? [106]

that does surprise me, wierd that it wasn't mentioned when the TLC website was discussed on radio 4

wonder how disabled you have to be to qualify
thanks for the link

amazing, i can't get the local council in Congleton to give me a disabled Bus pass ;-)

Tim Bucknall

11 Dec 2012

History / WAS KATYŃ GENOCIDE? Polish officers were killed [237]

in itself its a war crime,
but it was surely a part of a larger genocide in Kresy?

the De-Polonisation of cities like Lvov & Grodno was genocide/ethnic cleansing, and Katyn was surely part of that (as well as an attempt to weaken a future Polish state). combined with the deportations to Kazakhstan you could make a pretty good genocide case IMO

Hi Sourabh,

As for why it happened: i'm sure others will write this better, but part of it was the fact that Stalin was humiliated by Polish Military Genius in the 1919-1920 war and had not forgotten.

also the Soviet Government never accepted the loss of the Russian Empires Western Territories which became independant in 1918, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia & Finland.

so the USSR signed a pact with Nazi Germany that gave the USSR the Baltic states, Finland and Poland east of the Curzon line. 14 days after the Nazis Invaded Poland from the West , the USSR invaded from the East.

the USSR rounded up anyone who might have been able to lead a future Polish state and deported, imprisoned or Executed them.

Tim Bucknall

19 Dec 2012

Life / Polish radio stations in English [6]

fwiw: if you're after General English language radio
you'll probably Hear BBC Radio 5 at night time
909 & 693am
its probably nearly 24/7 in winter
try moving the radio about to get rid of Romania on 909 and Germany on 693 if needed

a mate in Central Ukraine gets Absolute radio 1215 well enough to listen to
you might even hear the venerable old 198 long wave!

Tim Bucknall

9 Jan 2013

History / Ukrainian-occupied Eastern Poland [135]

Germany would be quite happy

i'm amazed how closely the Eastern Border of 1548 matches the pre-1939 German/Polish Border- unless i'm not using that page properly!

i was going to start a thread but this one is a good fit:
What does Lvov mean to you?
is its loss comparable to the UK losing Cambridge or Oxford?
what are the main Polish historical sites in Lviv i should visit? you can pm me if thats too far off topic. birthplaces etc, and the spot where the Poles routed Stalins regiment in 1920 would be of interest to me.

I'm determined to get there this year or next, i made the mistake of asking someone to join me and they just delayed me before they decided not to go.

I'm surprised how much Lvov is mentioned in the Polish newspapers i buy.
more so than say: Lublin or Chelm or Katowice for instance
Is the loss deeply felt?

I wonder if Polands increasing (and fully deserved) economic power would allow Poles to buy property in Lviv and commute to work in Eastern Poland?

particularly if UKR eventually joins the EU, like Danes commuting from Sweden

Lvov is a special case IMO, unlike Grodno you'd probably still have Lvov if the retarded chimp in the British Foreign office who drew the curzon line had taken more care in his work! - sorry about that ;-)

the soviets then used our F*ck up to screw you out of Lvov

hopefully UKR will escape from Putin and join the EU then the border won't matter anymore, the Ukranians i talk to hope for a western future, but of course theres the Russians in the Eastern half pulling the other way

Tim Bucknall

10 Jan 2013

History / Ukrainian-occupied Eastern Poland [135]

Thanks

Tim Bucknall

27 Jan 2013

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

funny how we weren't allowed to even discuss immigration when it was from outside Europe, but now elements over here are whipping up a frenzy when its immigration from Eastern Europe!

I want Britain to Leave the EU for economic reasons since its not what the electorate in 1975 thought they were voting for
, but i really hope Poles stay here as they're a tremendous asset, apart from the fact that theres the obvious historical debt to them

several of our more depressing towns have been revitalised

Tim Bucknall

27 Jan 2013

History / WWII - Battle of Britain and Poles [104]

we'd have been stuffed without Polish airmen & Soldiers, not just the battle of Britain but North Africa, Italy, Arnhem, you name it.

with all the recent war commemorations, i really wanted to say thank you, since the media usually ignore Polands role,
and since i don't know any Polish ex-combatants this forum will have to do!

at the imperial war museum north Polands contribution wasn't even mentioned, the trend now seems to be to emphasise the role of commonwealth troops for reasons of political correctness. at least David Reynolds film "1942" mentioned Poles as :"by far the most recklessly brave allied fighters" and gave Montecassino good coverage.

so you saved our arses , and what happened after the war is too tragic for words, and yes our governments actions were shamefull in the extreme at times

but the contribution to British lives of the Polish Refugees who couldn't go home is amazing.

My Mum used to work for this Exiled Polish Author

Mycielska Wanda was born on November 26, 1925 in Warsaw. She died July 14, 2011 in Yorkshire, UK. Since 1940, lived in exile. She lived among others France, England, and for many years in Brazil.

hokus-pokus.pl/autor/30/index.html
and i used to spend my holidays at her large country house while mum worked, the family spoiled me every xmas and they were some of the happiest times of my life playing with the dogs, exploring the house and garden. i'm really glad to read that she lived to see her book published in Poland in 2009

(the family moved north so we lost contact)
the house was often visited by famous people and i got the autograph of the late great actor Phillip Maddoc, i remember sitting on his knee

so anyway this rambling post is my grossly inadequate attempt to say Thank you Poland

Tim Bucknall

27 Jan 2013

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

i find the cartoons and kids section in Angora goes down quite easily :-)
i wish you the very best of luck my friend, its been lots of Fun getting to grips with Polish

i get the papers once a month and spend the whole month on them at my leisure and i know i'll always be able to go back over anything later

Tim Bucknall

27 Jan 2013

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

something i don't understand is this supposed survey thats being touted in the media in the UK saying that in november a majority wanted to leave the EU and now its only 40% who want out!

it makes no sense to me, of my small circle of friends only a very few want to stay in, and what has changed since November?

Tim Bucknall

27 Jan 2013

History / WWII - Battle of Britain and Poles [104]

you've got to admit there's something a bit demi-god-ish about the soldiers who walked from Siberia to India to Join the British army ;-)

i totally take your point but it seems from recent documentaries like "Bloody Foreigners" on channel 4 that the Polish contribution to BoB was considered important by the top brass, we were losing a lot of pilots and needed the fresh blood

Tim Bucknall

28 Jan 2013

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

Are Poles the main unspoken reason why British want out?

i hope not and i don't think so, immigration in general though yes. european courts overriding government decisions ( i know only some of those court decisions are EU related). fears about regulation on our banking sector, the cost of 2 EU parliments.

concerns over the Euro arrest warrant, France misusing the CAP and blocking reform, some parts of single market still not fully in place 20 years after 1992,

some countries not implementing directives which we have to, paying for Catherine Ashton to fly around the world being crap ;-)
Frustration with eurozone countries for "dragging the rest of us down with their doomed experiment"
lack of obvious benefits to population apart from those who live near the channel tunnel.
refusal of any major British politician to seriously make the case for Europe.
silly things regulated by Brussels ie: we have to change our clocks at the same time as France which means we have more dark days in the "shoulder months" than we need to have

i won't deny that some people who want to leave are confusing/conflating the ECHR with the ECJ

@richfilth: aaah! that explains it, thanks

Tim Bucknall

28 Jan 2013

History / The Ribbentrop-Beck Pact [7]

if you want to save some money on the book its being serialised in Angora.

Tim Bucknall

28 Jan 2013

History / Unusual soldier (The bear - named Voytek) [71]

It's a great story, just goes to show why the Poles had a panache and elan that other Allied troops did not.

amen,

and i'm proud to say the Wotjek beer is brewed in my Town Congleton!
we've always been called bear town so it makes sense

Tim Bucknall

28 Jan 2013

History / WAS KATYŃ GENOCIDE? Polish officers were killed [237]

heres an interesting angle on it,
the campaign to restore Konigsberg is citing Kalinins part in Katyn
kaliningrad-eu.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=17

i can't see how to sign the petition however

Tim Bucknall

31 Jan 2013

UK, Ireland / Polish is Britain's second language, says UK report [52]

pretty excellent news for people trying to learn it like me, maybe i'll even be able to get the Polish papers in my Home Town soon.

BBC Radio 4 this morning quoted the Daily mail as saying that Polish was the 2nd Language in the UK, this felt incorrect to me due to my experience in Wales. Even in Congleton i hear Welsh spoken more than Polish, not very much but still more than Polish.

when i saw a copy of the paper it said 564,000 Polish Speakers in the UK as a whole , i still found it hard to imagine there were less Welsh Speakers but a google search reaveals that apparently its true, theres only 562,000. (19% of the Welsh Population)

I'm really shocked by the decline in Welsh over the last decade as my own experience in North & Mid wales made me think the Language was in Robust good health. I'm saddened that a language with such an ancient history in this Island is struggling

you'd think with devolution that there would be increased interest in Welsh, i had naively imagined the number of Welsh Speakers would maybe be 1.5 million since its taught in School at primary level.

the government could do some things to improve this, it could put BBC Radio Cymru on national freeview/DAB multiplexes to make it easier to hear outside Wales and the same with the TV Station S4C.

here in North West England BBC R Cymru is available via overspill on 104.3 FM, i often have it on in the background.
Before Digital Switchover i could also watch S4C

My own towns name is almost certainly derived or partly derived from Welsh who were the original inhabitants here, we also have a district called "Hulme Walfield" the last part of that name indicating it was named after its Welsh inhabitants

so i'm pleased by the growth of Polish but saddened by the decline of the UK's oldest surviving native language