THE stories of three generations of Polish immigrants who have settled in Enfield will be told thanks to a Lottery grant.

The Adam Mickiewicz Saturday School, based at Albany Secondary School, Bell Lane, has won a £45,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant to record the memories of three generations of Polish immigrants who have settled here.

Poles who came to Enfield immediately after the Second World War, in the 1970s and 1980s to escape the Soviet regime, and after Poland joined the European Union in 2004, will all be included in the project.

Volunteers will record the memories of ten people from each of these periods and will get extra training in interviewing and oral history methods from Middlesex University.

The project will look at such issues as housing, employment and citizenship and will span the generations bringing older and younger Poles together so that experiences can be compared and contrasted.

It will also involve pupils, teachers, volunteers and trustees from the Polish Saturday School as well as members of the Polish Parish in Waltham Cross.

Schoolchildren from Turin Grove School in Edmonton will also get involved and will help the Sikorski Museum in London, and the Polish Educational Society to produce teaching aids and a DVD about Polish history, culture and traditions.

These will then be distributed to local schools and a website set up to to store material related to the project.

The end result will be a community exhibition held first of all at Edmonton Green Library and then in the local schools and Forty Hall.

A Polish library and resource centre will also be created.

Adam Mickiewicz's headteacher, Grazyna Maczkowska, said: “We are delighted to receive this grant which will help to rescue memories of Polish emigrants, particularly the older generation and will bring together different generations of Poles to share their experiences and improve understanding.

“We hope that the project could help to change the stereotypical image of Poles and that the collected material and output from the project will help other communities in a better understanding of the Polish history and culture.”

Head of the HLF, Sue Bowers, also said the project aimed to enhance understanding and highlight the distinctive culture and history of Polish people.