Sue Ryder was a British charity activist who established a wide-ranging charitable activity across the World. She founded an international charity in tribute to the victims of World War II. As Lady Ryder of Warsaw, she sat in the British House of Lords. She was a great friend of Poland and Poles. In Poland, she founded nursing homes, hospitals and hospices in as many as 30 towns.
Margaret Susan Ryder, better known as Sue Ryder, was born on July 3, 1923, in a city hospital in Leeds, a family settlement in the county of Suffolk. The family house was later used as a shelter to help the poor and the victimised.
After the outbreak of World War II, at only 16 years of age, she volunteered for the formation of first aid nurses. During the War, Susan Ryder served in the Polish section of the British Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.), a diversion in occupied Europe. In August 1944, she was helping in the Warsaw Uprising. She was closely collaborating with “Cichociemni” Polish Special Forces, whose courage, determination and dedication had a profound impact on her future. During her service, she was directly confronted with the enormity of human suffering. At the end of the War, she was assisting to save former prisoners of German camps. At the same time, she visited prisons, saving the lives of many sentenced to death by the communist regime. These experiences have resulted in continuous involvement in charity work for the sick, the homeless and the deprived of human dignity. Soon her help arrived at other continents.
In 1953, she founded the Charity of her name. „There’s rosemary, that’s for Remembrance, Pray, Love, remember” – a quote from Hamlet and a twig of rosemary became a symbol of the foundation, a living monument to millions of people who, in defending human values, gave their lives during the war. The Sue Ryder Foundation has built more than eighty homes in fifteen countries in the world, which today serve the sick and the suffering.
Until 1978, Sue Ryder had organised holiday and rehabilitation trips to the UK for former prisoners of German concentration camps. This form of assistance was offered to as many as 8000 people, mostly Poles who suffered in the camps. Together with her husband Leonard Cheshire (1917-1992), a famous hero of World War II, and a charity activist in his own right, she initiated joint humanitarian actions in various countries in the world, affected by the human tragedy.
For the purpose of financing the Foundation’s activities, Sue Ryder founded more than 600 charitable stores.
Apparently, her sentiment to Poland was partly due to love that she, as a teenager, had for a handsome Polish Special Force Operative “Cichociemny”. It was not love with a happy ending though – he was killed in battle. However, Sue Ryder held a very special place in her heart for the Poles for the rest of her life.
Poland has always been a focus for Sue Ryder. Immediately after the war, together with an international group of volunteers, she continued to help Poland and Poles. In Poland, she built more than 30 care homes, which have accommodated the sick, the lonely and the homeless people. Today in Poland, many places are named after Sue Ryder. In Warsaw there is Sue Ryder Museum – the only museum in the World devoted to Sue Ryder with its props, recordings, photographs, wide correspondence and archives documenting her life.
When the Foundation was established in 1953 in the United Kingdom, Sue Ryder was assisted by Poles saved from the German concentration camps – the so-called “Misplaced Persons”. Some of them were staying in the family estate of Sue Ryder in Cavendish, which she inherited from her family. This House and Estate was the first care home, mainly occupied by people who were haunted by tragic memories and traumas of the recent war. Sue Ryder and her family – husband and two children – resided in one small apartment. The majority of the house they gave for use by other residents.
In her activities to help Poles, Sue Ryder intensified efforts and began to build a hospital in Konstancin-Jeziorna, near Warsaw. In Poland she also founded another hospital in Gdynia. To this day in Gdynia there is a square of her name, in the very Center, located next to Piłsudski Avenue as a proof of gratitude to the local community. In addition, she founded the Centre of Oncology and a number of social care homes –in Psary, Góra Kalwaria, Cracow, Radzymin, Popkowice and in other towns in Poland.
Her foundations in the UK and Poland have similar objectives: supporting elderly and disabled people – those incurably ill with cancer and neurological diseases, and those who have lost their families and are lonely or sick – all her foundations follow the motto of Sue Ryder: ’Do what you can for the person in front of you ’.
In 1956 Sue Ryder embarked on a fifty-year mission in Poland with a group of her Polish colleagues and volunteers. She found them among former prisoners of concentration camps, war veterans and their families. Many of them have been voluntarily cooperating with the Foundation for years, and even became part of its authorities. Sue Ryder was unable to officially register her Foundation in Poland during the communist period, and all the houses she had built, were gifted to the Polish state. The Foundation in Poland has an independent legal personality and is established by the founder to continue her mission in Poland. It was only in July 1991 that the Foundation of Sue Ryder was officially established in Poland, under a notarial deed, and in the following year the registration process was completed. The Foundation in Poland has an independent legal personality and was established by the founder to continue her mission in Poland and to take care of the houses she established and their wards.
The Sue Ryder Foundation in Poland is the only authorised entity to act on behalf of the former English Foundation. The charity’s goals include: to help people suffering or in need, help those of poor living conditions, those who are excluded because of social and health reasons, and act to remove or alleviate their sufferings.
Iwona Golinska, from Sue Ryder Poland said to portal British Poles: “The idea is to raise awareness of Sue Ryder among Poles in the UK – more than a million Poles are based in the UK and can help us to support Polish care homes back home. We will help the poorest and the weakest in our home country. Poland has still enormous needs in this area. We need to mobilise our hearts. I myself am taking care of my mum who is disabled, and I know the subject of disability well. I know how much help, good heart, good words and daily care is needed”.
On the 5th of May, at the London POSK, Iwona Golinska organised a very special event devoted to Sue Ryder in order to promote her ideas in our Polish community in the UK. She comments: “I was able to persuade the Polish Ambassador to the UK, Prof. Arkady Rzegocki to personally gave us an honorary patronage of the exhibition entitled ‘Sue Ryder – Life for People’, devoted to the life and activities of our patron, combined with a projection of a film about Sue Ryder. It was an exhibition about the life of Sue Ryder and propagating her idea of charity. As part of the meeting we also invited the British Foundation of Sue Ryder and people who personally knew Sue Ryder such as Halina Kent and Dr Bożena Laskiewicz. We were also able to collect some donations to support Sue Ryder Museum in Warsaw. I have the pleasure to invite both Poles and Brits to this Museum dedicated to Sue Ryder – a great Samaritan, often compared to Mother Theresa of Calcutta”.
This exhibition was well coordinated with the fact that this year is the 100th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Poland and Britain. Lady Sue Ryder of Warsaw, as a big friend of Poland, is a great example of good relations between our countries. The meeting in POSK was held as part of ’ Polish Heritage Days ’ in the UK. This was the first public charity event organised by the Sue Ryder Foundation in the UK.
In Poland Sue Ryder Foundation operates a network of charity shops that anyone can bring their belongings to and donate for charitable purposes, as far as they are suitable for use and are in good condition. One charity shop is in Bagatela street in Mokotow area in Warsaw, the other in Żoliborz, in Bielany and in Wola – and this is only in Warsaw. In addition, there are shops in Katowice and Bielsko Biała.
All the houses of Sue Ryder focus on helping the sick and the elderly – those in need of care after 65 years of age, often palliative aid. Care homes are establishments founded in Poland by Sue Ryder and donated to the Polish state. Currently, the Foundation takes care of 15 care homes, of which 14 have been built and completely equipped by Sue Ryder. The newest care home of Sue Ryder was founded in 2006 in Pierzchnica, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, with help of the local government funds. The first and the largest house was created in Konstancin-Jeziorna, near Warsaw and is still there today.
Iwona Golinska adds: „I like to underline that Sue Ryder Poland in Great Britain is dedicated to promoting the ideas of Sue Ryder by encouraging volunteering, creating interest amongst the Polish and British society including the government and business organisations as well as local authorities in the face of the elderly, the sick, the disabled and the poor in accordance with the intentions of the Founder. We are also here to propagate ideas of charity and share information about the life and achievements of our Patron – Sue Ryder. We invite all Poles in the UK and all Brits, friends of Poland to support good relations and build a strong Polish-British social bond”.
Text: Iwona Golinska/British Poles
Pictures: Iwona Golińska and collection of Sue Ryder Fundation
