An exciting new project bringing together three of the UK’s biggest Polish institutions to host a series of specially curated events celebrating the shared history and cultural heritage between the UK and Poland.
19 Oct – 18 Nov
The Polish Cultural Institute in London, the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK), also known as the Polish Centre, and Ognisko Polskie (Polish Hearth) are proud to join forces to collaborate on an exciting new project which celebrates the contribution of the Polish diaspora, one of the largest community groups in the country, to British culture and society.
It is the first time that these three Polish organisations in the UK have collaborated in this way. The new project celebrates Polish contributions to British life and is named after Churchill’s favourite female secret agent.
Krystyna Skarbek, better known as Christine Granville was one of the most remarkable secret agents of the Second World War, undertaking many successful missions and using her language skills, powers of persuasion, and sheer courage to save countless lives. She was Britain’s first female secret agent, and its longest serving operative.
The Granville-Skarbek Cultural Exchange project will be comprised of TWO elements:
1) An Online Museum and Platform – Launching on 20 Oct
2) The Granville-Skarbek Cultural Exchange Festival – a series of events celebrating our shared Anglo-Polish heritage – to take place each October.
The inaugural festival will include the following events:
19th October at Ognisko Polskie (Polish Hearth), 7pm for 7.30pm
The first of two events focused on the society portrait painter Aniela Pawlikowska and her family.
Part 1: ‘A Tale of Two Sisters-in-law’: Aniela Pawlikowska and the poet, playwright and illustrator Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska.
Anna Pawlikowska on her mother-in-law society portraitist Aniela Pawlikowska’s art; Professor Tony Howard and Basia Bogoczek (Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska’s translators/biographers) on Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska’s wartime life in Blackpool and Manchester. On 2 September 1939 her scorching satire on Hitler opened in a Warsaw theatre as his tanks invaded. She and her husband, the pilot Stefan Jasnorzewski, made their way to England, where he fought in the Battle of Britain and her wartime poetry expressed both a refugee’s sense of personal displacement and her new solidarity with bombed-out British civilians.
(Event in English)
Admission – £10 (£5 for Ognisko Polskie members): please book at:
A Tale of Two Sisters-in-Law: Aniela Pawlikowska & Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnor Tickets, Wed 19 Oct 2022 at 19:00 | Eventbrite or by email at office@ogniskopolskie.org.uk
On 20th October at POSK, 4 – 5pm
Afternoon lecture: Part 2 of the event on Aniela Pawlikowska and her family: ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’: Aniela Pawlikowska and the poet and soldier Beata Obertynska’, their lives in the UK (1946-1980) as a glimpse into Polish post-war emigration; followed by a Q&A.
Free admission: please book at media@posk.org
On 20th October at POSK, 5.15 – 6.15pm
Lecture „Illustrated talk „The Making the Granville-Skarbek Anglo-Polish Cultural Exchange: Virtual Museum and Research Hub”. By project curator Julia Griffin. Q&A with Julia Griffin, Dr Marek Laskiewicz, Elvira Olbrich, Dr Marta de Zuniga and Ania Mochlińska.
Free admission: please book at media@posk.org
From 21st October – 18 November, at POSK Gallery
Art exhibition: ‘Theatre of Dreams: Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal.
Anglo/Polish Cultural Exchange’ showcases the internationally renowned output of married artists and collaborators – poster designer and illustrator Andrzej Klimowski, and theatre designer and painter Danusia Schejbal. Highlights include new likenesses of inspirational Anglo-Poles and a surrealist picture representing Anglo-Polish relations.
Free admission
21st October at Ognisko Polskie (Polish Hearth), 7pm for 7.30pm
‘Secret Agents and Secret Codes: The Polish Factor in the British War Effort’ Roundtable event.
Event highlighting the story of Churchill’s favourite female secret agent who was known by her British secret agent name Christine Granville and was said to be the inspiration for Bond writer Ian Flemings’ creation of Vesper Lynd. The event will comprise several talks by Krystyna Skarbek’s award-winning biographer Clare Mulley The Spy who Loved: the Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville, Britain’s First Special Agent of WW II (Pan 2013); artist Ian Wolter who sculpted the bust of Krystyna Skarbek; premiere of two short films about the Cyclometer and Enigma code-breaking machines commissioned by the Polish Cultural Institute, as well as insights by Anna Pawlikowska, Aniela Pawlikowska’s daughter-in-law about Skarbek’s portrait.
Admission – £10 (£5 for Ognisko Polskie members): please book at:
Secret Agents and Secret Codes: The Polish Factor in WWII Tickets, Fri 21 Oct 2022 at 19:00 | Eventbrite or by email at office@ogniskopolskie.org.uk
