Veterans club left frozen in time
A VETERANS club has been left frozen in time with a crown, beer cans and even what appears to be a sword.
Photographs show the inside of the abandoned building in Moss Side which was home to the Manchester branch of the Polish Ex-Combatants Association for almost 70 years.
The club opened in May 1949 after thousands of Polish pilots flew in the RAF, having escaped the crushing forces of Hitler’s German army which overran much of Eastern Europe by the end of 1939.
Pictures of a games room, lounge, library, restaurant, and Sunday School, give us an exciting glimpse into the post-war Polish community in Manchester.
A wide open hall, dotted with abandoned Polish flags, the eagle insignia of the Polish coat of arms, plus anonymous black-and-white pictures of exmembers, shows us where many of the veterans would have enjoyed parties and dinner events.
A large stage littered with debris facing a shabby piano, littered with old beer cans and, what appears to be, some sort of sword.
An old newspaper lays across the faded ivory keys.
Throughout the club’s abandoned rooms are reams of old photos and portraits.
While many appear to be of past events held at the club, one looks to be a portrait of Lieutenant General Odjiezynski, a former Chief of Staff in the Polish Army, who performed the opening ceremony for the club in 1949.
Further images show a battered old crown lying on a rickety old wooden chair, below a framed picture of the Polish eagle coat-of-arms.
The venue in Shrewsbury Street, which replaced the Moss Side Unitarian Free Church, was forced to close in 2007, and has remained derelict ever since.
An independent Urban Explorer, who does not wish to be named, took a peek inside the building and provided the M.E.N. with some incredible images of the club.
Some 150,000 Polish Armed Forces personnel and their families were based in the UK, making them one of the largest ethnic minorities in Britain at the time.