THE Polish church will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in Huddersfield this year.

And Tony Sosna from Springwood can recall how it all began with the first Polish church a DIY affair built at a special camp between Huddersfield and Barnsley which housed Polish refugees arriving here in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Many first lived at Cannon Hall Camp near Cawthorne and the photographs on this page were taken in July 1948 when the camp staged its first Polish Procession.

It was for the religious festival Corpus Christi.

Tony, 87, recalls: “A thousand people took part in the procession. Around 500 of the people living in the camp were Polish soldiers still under contract to the British army but there were many families who were related to the soldiers who had made the trip from camps in Germany and the Middle East.

“The camp also had masses of activities ranging from sports such as football and table tennis to ballroom dancing.

“The troops had, in effect, been demobbed and so had become reservists but were getting jobs in the Yorkshire area.”

The camp – which also had a school and various vocational courses to help people adjust to civilian life – became a huge hostel and some factories in the Huddersfield area also had their own hostels such was the need for workers at the time.

The camp has been completely demolished over the years and a new housing estate has been built on the spot.

Tony said: “I had been in Scotland when someone told me about jobs in Huddersfield.

“He said the people were friendly and had a great sense of humour and the girls were smashing. I said ‘where do I sign.’”

Tony – who was a radio operator during the war and worked with the French Resistance during the D-Day landings – managed to get a job as a weaver even though he had no idea at first what weaving involved.

And he did meet a smashing girl, Carol. The couple were married for almost 50 years before she passed away last year.

Tony specifically remembers the camp’s chaplain, Father Josef Dryzalowski, and that the people living in the camp built a makeshift chapel that was even visited by representatives of the Catholic church in Rome.

Many pictures from the camp days are now on show in the Victoria Museum in Cawthorne.

Tony said: “After Father Josef’s military service ended he received hospitality in St Patrick’s presbytery in Huddersfield and was allowed to use their church for masses for Polish people.

“In July 1948 he was nominated as Polish priest of Huddersfield by the Rector of the Polish Mission.

“Within a year Polish people had bought a house in Upper George Street in Springwood for their priest but remained as guests at St Patrick’s for 14 years until 1962 when they bought their own church from the Unitarians.”

Tony’s second set of pictures were taken in 1965 showing Polish schoolchildren staging a performance in the newly restored hall beneath the church on Fitzwilliam Street.

“The dresses represent different regions of Poland including highlanders from the Tatra mountains,” said Tony.

“The event attracted a huge crowd and the hall was overflowing.’’

The other photograph shows Polish scouts taken in 1962 at St Patrick’s Hall on Fitzwilliam Street which was demolished to make way for the ring road.