Historical meetings at POSK

 
Yesterday, after a busy day, I popped in to POSK to check out a meeting with a famous Polish historian Andrzej Nowak. Many people arrived and I was delighted to have a word with Mrs Marzena Szejbal, one of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 participants. Unfortunately, the meeting was in Polish only, not good for my English friend.  I listened for a good forty minutes, but it wouldn't have been fair to make my friend wait any longer, really. Even so, by the time I left, the lecturer had still not moved on from ancient history, including the Greeks and Hittites .

The room setup made it very difficult to slip in or out of as the door was right behind the speaker. One elderly man left having lost interest and said to me that he came there to hear about Polish history, not to have a lecture on universal history.

The only pictures I can provide you with, Dear Reader, are the ones of the tables being set up by the two Polish librarians for the reception to follow. 

 You may now  guess that the event was organised by The Polish Library at POSK
The library, headed by Ms Dobroslawa Platt, runs a series of interesting cultural events indeed. I have attended a few, so I know. As she kindly explained to me yesterday, they are not available for non-Polish speakers both because there are many other  Polish cultural events in English and due to financial limitations.

To my surprise, on entering the Polish institution in Ravenscourt Park, I was approached by a man keenly trying to divert my steps to a simultaneously held event on the same floor.  There I encountered the other man on the same mission. They literally were trying to persuade everyone coming to POSK or heading for the lecture on  Polish history to change their minds and go to a meeting with Marcin Wolski. I liked Marcin Wolski radio programs a lot, back years ago in Poland, but I hadn't known about his visit and I had other commitments. So did others, I suppose. It was quite farcical as you can imagine. The climax came when a  Polish woman of more advanced age came along, obviously a senior member of POSK, and a real squabble between the two broke out. It was funny and sad at the same time. As it turned out the woman did not actually want to hear the history talk, just to deliver a message to a member of the audience. However, that's by the way. The squabble seemed to revolve around their rights to be there in the corridor and who had secured more votes in the previous POSK election of worthies - obviously a meeting with its own history attached.