Finding My Past was the intriguing title of Mike Renwick’s address to members of Lochrutton SWI at their October meeting.
Mike explained his dad, Leon Rewczuk had been a displaced person from Poland. After the end of WWII, he couldn’t return to Poland as it was now communist and he feared he would be kept there against his will, however, Mike did know his dad sent some medicines and essentials over to his mother and sister.
Tragically, Leon died suddenly aged 51 when Mike was just 19. He wrote to his Polish relatives to tell them Leon had died, but they didn’t speak English and Mike didn’t speak Polish so all communication ended there.
Fast forward to 2023, armed with only a birth certificate noting where Leon was baptised, Mike and his wife Jan made the long, hot journey to Bialapodlaska in Eastern Poland.
The following morning, a very scary, brooding, Hells Angel lookalike taxi driver came to take them to the church, however, Thomasz turned out to be a real angel. He found the church and then searched for the missing graveyard which turned out to be several miles away so Mike would never have found this without Thomasz.
As Mike and Jan watched Thomasz approach the cemetery custodian, they couldn’t believe their eyes as right beside Thomasz was a tomb stone engraved REWZCUK and Mike had found some of his family’s past.
Mission accomplished but there was another twist. A few months later Mike received a strange message from his son. Some unknown Polish man was trying to contact a recent visitor to the Rewczuk family grave. Fearing a scam, Mike sent a careful message and to his surprise, photos of him as a boy and one of his dad came back. Now Mike has a cousin and two second cousins in Bialapodlaska and Warsaw and he hopes to visit them in the future. Mike interspersed his presentation with a fun musical quiz of best selling singles in the decades 1950s to 2010s and his favourite collectable from each of these decades.
Emma Hill thanked Mike very much for sharing his fascinating account and all the visitors who came along to support the open night. A fine tea was then enjoyed by all. During this time some members approached Mike to say how particularly interesting it had been for them, because it reflected their family history too, their relative being displaced from East Prussia and another from Germany.
Competition results as follows:
Fruit scones – 1 Anita Gilmour; 2 Jean Davidson; 3 Judith Sauberlich.
Interesting book mark – 1 Judith Sauberlich; 2 Anita Gilmour; 3 Nancy Lawrie; 4 Joanne Caesar.
The next meeting is the AGM on Tuesday, November 19 featuring hands on crafting with Anne McLauchlan. The competition is for a gift wrapped box of biscuits which will be donated and a hand crafted Christmas card.