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Life Through Basia's Eyes

Basia Korzeniowska's avatarBasia Korzeniowska

British born of Polish parents; educator, teacher, translator, chair of Polish Citizens’ Committee Housing Association Ltd., fundraiser and organiser.

I was born in Earls Court, centre of Polish émigré life at the time, then lived in South Kensington and went to a tiny boarding school in Ealing. I read Spanish and English at Sheffield University, and as I always knew I wanted to be a teacher I did my PGCE there in 1978. For the next forty years I taught in a wide variety of schools, eventually specialising in Special Education. The cohesive theme of my career was creative education in the widest sense of the word.
My passions are people, education, literature, theatre and inclusivity. I hate sport but enjoy walking and taking photographs and writing.
Now on my gap year I am enjoying volunteering my help with the Polish Cultural Foundation, chairing the committee of Antokol Polish Care Home and I promote knowledge of immediate history to school children about the events of the Second World War which led to my parents being here as refugees.

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A serendipitous encounter…

A chance photograph  prompted this. I am sharing this post because I think it is so interesting: This past week Basia Korzeniowska posted a photo to the Kresy-Siberia Facebook Group, one which made me do a double-take. Why? Because I have the same photo in my collection. Basia mentioned her mo… Source: A serendipitous encounter…

Easter Sunday

Today was an extremely special day.Easter  by tradition has always been a moveable feast, but its moveability has rarely been decided by members of the general public.  There are patriarchs of the various branches of Christianity involved, and governments too.  But this did not interest us this year.  Officially Easter Sunday was a couple of […]Read Post ›

Babcia Janina

My grandmother, Janina Wysoka, nee Kirschinger,  in 1917 just before she got married. She was born in 1896 and died in 1978 just before I got married. Born in Bratislava; brought up in Vienna. Spen… Source: Babcia Janina

Babcia Janina

My grandmother, Janina Wysoka, nee Kirschinger,  in 1917 just before she got married. She was born in 1896 and died in 1978 just before I got married. Born in Bratislava; brought up in Vienna. Spent twenty years in Lwow, then Siberia and the long journey to freedom through Iran, Palestine and finally England in 1947. […]Read Post ›

Liberation-Russian Style

This book was published very soon after the war. My father Jan Wysoki gave it to me to read when I was an adult because he said it gave the truest account in English of his own experiences. I am going to buy another copy now because I tore bits out of this one when […]Read Post ›

Sausage Tree

Yesterday I  was in total crisis.  I am on holiday from school and  although I have a lot to do I thought I could spend a happy hour looking at our photos from our incredible trip to Uganda and Tanzania 3 years ago. (More about that some other time). For the last three years I […]Read Post ›

Mothering Sunday 2016

Mothering Sunday. Ten years ago I still had my mother and my godmother, who was also my aunt. Five years ago I still had my godmother. Now I am mother to three of my own very grown-up children and Mothering Sunday is still an extremely significant day for me. This picture of the queen is […]Read Post ›

Nuns 1 

MM Clare. Very old. Would look after the boarders at night before matron was installed. She would hang all her necessities on a cord round her waist underneath the top layer of her habit. These included nail clippers, scissors, and an exercise book full of sweet jokes that she had written down to entertain us […]Read Post ›

Vienna holiday 

Not a holiday really. Just a record. Vinyl. Very old. We put it on just now and the memories flooded back. Sitting at home in the purple and yellow living room in Egerton Court putting on record after record and dancing and singing  wildly whenever I was on my own. With the limited choice of […]Read Post ›

Stars and Bars

By William Boyd   Not his best book. Very funny in places and especially good when describing the scenery and weather. But the story is too far fetched and the set pieces don’t always quite work. Very unsatisfactory ending. But then I looked at when he wrote it and it was over thirty years ago. So […]Read Post ›

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