Penhros Polish Village is located between Pwhelli and Abersoch on the North Wales coast line.

The area is in typically beautiful Welsh countryside with rolling hills, grazing sheep, birds singing and lots of araf (slow)  painted on the roads.

It was a former RAF base handed over in 1949 to ex Polish soldiers and displaced Polish families after the war.

My godfather Theo and his friend Pani Minko, amongst others, decided to sell up and move there in the late 1980's. I expect it was little Poland to see out their final days.

I hired a large Ford Transit van one Saturday, packed up their belongings and off we went. The M56 being one of the most boring motorways in this country, I remember glancing over to the double passenger seat to see them both fast asleep bobbing along in this bouncy large van.

Before the days of internet and satnav, we just had A-Z maps.

I followed the map to Penhros village, which is actually located in a forrest about 0.5 mile from the base! There is nothing better than feeding a large removals van through a narrow forrest road only to discover it is the wrong place.

Attempting a 3 point turn is also character building!

Eventually we arrived at the 'correct village' and started to unpack.

A chapel on the left and white buildings littered the site with letters of the alphabet on the side, so you know where to go.

K block for Kowalski in our case.

The accomodation was small but complete featuring a bathroom, combined living room with kitchenette and bedroom.

They would not accept a small side cabinet in the room (personally I thought they were being mean) so I took it back home. It's still here in our hallway, moving with me from house to house, an everyday reminder.

I used to visit a few times per year in-spite of the 2.5 hour trip each way from my house.

Sadly Pani Minko passed away in 1992 and Theo in 1999, buried side by side in the nearby cemetary at Pwhelli.

Hence this village in the backwaters of Wales has ended up being connected to my life indirectly.

Today I still visit my godfather's grave, tidying up, fresh candle but also pop in to the village afterwards and just soak up the memories for a short while.

I expect most of the residents ended up in that same graveyard because I have never seen so many Polish graves together. It's very humbling knowing the sacrifices they made for us, to be left forgotten in a graveyard in the middle of nowhere.

Strangely it is always gloriously sunny and peaceful in that graveyard regardless of surrounding weather conditions.

Unfortunately in 2023, they have decided to demolish the village because it is too costly to just repair the buildings (which are ex army barracks from the 1940s!) They say they want to rebuild from new and the current residents can stay in their current homes during the work according to the press?

Sadly I think it shall be the end of this chapter of Polish history in that part of the UK.

It's sad seeing boarded up windows, overgrown gardens once neatly trimmed in the past. 

There used to be rabbits hopping about everywhere they have gone too.

Read the press links, once it is gone that's it.

I know time moves onto the next generation but we shouldn't forget the past nor build over it for financial/commerical reasons.

Photos are from June 2024. I hope it will still be here next year but like the rabbits I expect it wont.