Ref. 27842-18A SCHOOL at the heart of Swindon's thriving Polish community is hoping to trace the family tree of all its pupils.

The Polish Saturday School, which is housed in the Polish Community Centre in Whitbourne Avenue, Park North, celebrates its 50th anniversary in the new year.

To mark the milestone, parents and teachers are hoping to produce family trees for 70 pupils, aged from three to 15. They have now formed a committee.

One of the ten teachers is Krystyna Bartoszewska, 45, who lives in Hunt Street, Old Town.

She knows only too well the importance of maintaining family links, following a mass family reunion in August in the spa town of Ciechocinek, not far from Swindon's Polish twin town of Torun.

Although she was born and raised in Swindon, Mrs Bartos-zewska's parents were both Polish.

While her mother was forced into heavy farm labouring in Germany, her father, Franciszek, joined spent the war working with resistance groups across occupied Europe.

Then he was smuggled out and joined the British army and fought in Germany mopping up final pockets of resistance.

It was then that he met his future wife, who was in poor shape.

The couple were married in the camp by a British army chaplain.

She said: "During the war a lot of families were split up and forced into labour by the Nazis.

"Both of my parents thought that they would not survive the end of the war my mother was on death's door when the British army liberated them in Germany it's a miracle they survived."

In many cases people were only reunited with their loved ones at the end of hostilities by the Red Cross.

In a remarkable family tale, Mrs Bartoszewska reveals that her uncle once saw a man, resembling his father, in the distance while strolling the streets.

He then realised that it was in fact his father.

"So many families were split up during the war, nobody knew what happened to them and in some cases they were sent to the same towns but did not know," she said.

Mrs Bartoszewska says that while it is important that children feel integrated in the community, they should not forget their roots.

"The children need to be aware that they are not pure English and that they have their roots in Poland, hopefully this project will make them more aware."

Headteacher Ania Kononczuk, 63, has been involved with the school for the past 30 years.

Lessons were originally taught in private houses before moving to the Holy Rood School in Groundwell Road.

Around 1965, the school moved to its current site.

Mrs Kononczuk said: "We have many third generation children here and we wanted to talk to them about their family history.

"Most of us do a lot of travelling to see our families, because we feel drawn to our roots.

"Every child has somebody who came over to England first usually as a result of the war and we want to look at that important event."

In May and June, the children will be performing a play. In addition the group are discussing planting a commemorative tree to mark the anniversary.