Attending Services At The Polish Catholic Church In Bradford In The Early 1960s

A Memory of Bradford.

The Polish Community in Bradford did not have their own place of worship until they took over a building at Lansdowne Place, 29 St.Edmund Street, Bradford , with a twenty-one year lease. This Church was opened - consecrated - in March 1960. The name of the Parish and Church was 'Our Lady of Czestochowa'.

My grandparents used to attend this church periodically and suggested that I should accompany them. The main body of the mass was entirely familiar to me since proceedings were in Latin. I really enjoyed the theatre of the lively sermon given in Polish with vigorous arm-waving, even though I did not understand a word. Hymns were sung with great gusto. Members of the congregation were somewhat surprised when I did not join in, even when they offered to share their hymn book with me. At times the noise of the sermon and hymns were such that grandfather would switch off his hearing aid. The whole experience was in total contrast to the restrained worship in my own church and as I became older I would attend the services on my own.