Hammersmith & Fulham Honoured with Polish Medal
Award for borough recognises a century of friendship
Left to right: Deputy Mayor of Ealing, Cllr Faduma Mohamed; Mayor of Hillingdon, Cllr Philip Corthorne; Mayor of Newark/Nottinghamshire, Cllr Barbara Corrigan; H.R.H Prince Edward, Duke of Kent; Mayor of Westminster, Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg; H&F Mayor Cllr Sharon Holder; Deputy Mayor of Wandsworth, Cllr Rosemary Birchall; and Mayor of Islington, Cllr Jason Jackson. Picture: H&F Council
January 12, 2026
Hammersmith & Fulham has been awarded the Pro Bono Poloniae medal, a national honour marking 100 years since Poland regained its independence and recognising the borough’s long-standing friendship with the Polish community.
The award was formally accepted by the Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham, Cllr Sharon Holder, at a ceremony held at The Rubens at The Palace Hotel in central London. She said the honour belonged to everyone in the borough who had helped nurture the relationship between H&F and its Polish residents over many decades. She added that the borough’s diversity, shaped in part by its Polish community, continued to make H&F “stronger, safer and kinder”.
The medal reflects a bond that stretches back to the Second World War, when thousands of Poles fled west as Nazi forces advanced. Many regrouped in Britain, with Polish soldiers and airmen joining the Allied effort.
Historian and POSK trustee Wiktor Moszczyński described the exodus as the Polish equivalent of the Windrush moment for the Black community, marking a major displacement that reshaped lives and communities. After the war, many Polish families settled permanently in Hammersmith & Fulham, contributing to the borough’s cultural and social life.
The white eagle of Poland already features in the borough’s civic regalia, and 2025 saw the King visit POSK, the Polish Social and Cultural Association on King Street. POSK is the largest Polish cultural institution outside Poland and a major symbol of the borough’s connection to the Polish community.
Founded through community fundraising, it originally housed 80,000 books and now holds 200,000 volumes, 60,000 photographs and the world’s largest collection of underground publications from occupied Poland. The centre also includes a theatre, cinema, art galleries, Café Maja, the Łowiczanka restaurant, a bookshop and the Jazz Cafe.
H&F Mayor Sharon Holder at the Polish Air Force Memorial accompanied by her consort. Picture: H&F Council
Wiktor Moszczyński recalled attending the laying of POSK’s foundation stone as a young scout in 1971, when around 3,000 people gathered for the ceremony. In the 1980s, the centre became a base for the Solidarity movement, which played a key role in the fall of communist rule in Poland and the rise of Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Wałęsa.
Cllr Holder has marked the borough’s ongoing ties with the Polish community by attending the Polish Air Force Memorial to honour the pilots who defended Britain 85 years ago. She also represented H&F in parliament at an event marking 1,000 years since the coronation of Bolesław the Brave, Poland’s first king.
POSK continues to evolve. A new project aims to recruit Polish-speaking families in H&F to provide homes for Polish children in need, while Radio POSK is being developed to broadcast news, cultural programming and practical information for the community.
The Polish Social and Cultural Association, spanning 238 to 246 King Street. Picture: H&F Council
The medal, awarded during a year of renewed cultural celebration, underlines the depth of the borough’s relationship with its Polish residents and the role they continue to play in shaping Hammersmith & Fulham today.
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