Polish Community Luton/Dunstable - How it all started

After the Second World War numerous Polish soldiers decided not to return to Poland, for personal or political reasons, and opted to remain overseas. They took up the offer and invitation of the then Foreign Minister to remain in the UK. They were temporarily housed in barracks and other ex-army accommodation which was now surplus to requirements all round the UK. One such camp was at Marsworth near Dunstable. It was from this camp that our Polish Community originates.

One of the first priests to take care and lead the Community was the Reverend Wlodzimierz Cienski. He made contact with the Parish of St. Joseph in Luton and received permission to celebrate mass in Polish. It was in the autumn of 1953 that this first seed of our Polish Parish and Community was sown.

The expansion and development rapidly gathered pace. Numerous new organisations, church related and social, were formed and developed under the guidance of successive parish priests. A Polish Saturday school was formed as well as a Scout Troop.

History