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Introducing
The Institute
of Polish
Military History
A message from our President, General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank
'I am delighted to be associated with the work of the Polish Heritage Society and very honoured to serve as its President. The Society's work highlights the enormous contribution which generations of Poles have made to their adopted country. Preserving and celebrating that heritage will only further strengthen the ties between Poland and the United Kingdom.
I worked closely with the Society on the project to build a memorial to the Polish Forces at the National Memorial Arboretum and saw at first hand the energy and dedication of those involved.
I encourage you to explore this website and learn about the many other projects the Society has sponsored. Do please contact us if you would like to be involved in any way'.
General The Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank GCB LVO OBE
A Debt of Dishonour is a unique documentary film dedicated Major General Sosabowski and all ranks who served in the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group and to their Comrades-in-Arms of the 1st British Airborne Division that fought in the ill-fated “Operation Market Garden” at Arnhem and Driel during September 1944.
Sto Lat-Albert Hall
The Polish Heritage Society
Polish A Level being threatened
Greg Hands M.P.
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
20 May 2015
Dear Greg,
Congratulation on your promotion to Chief Secretary to the Treasury……….!!!
I have just read Issue 436 (I have read your every Issue since Issue 84 – April 2006 - when I first received it) and I am very impressed by your comments. We are very lucky to have you on board of the Cabinet and I am certain that Prime Minster David Cameron will really appreciate your remarkable talent – and superb common sense.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for responding to my request concerning the potential cancellation of Polish A-Level – I was most impressed by your comments & recommendation to Andrew Hall, the CEO of AQA (24th April, 2015).
Let us hope that AQA will respond by not cancelling Polish A-Level – and the other 8 A-Level languages, including Portuguese and Dutch (please attached detailed list). FYI, the campaign has now received 15,736 signatories.
With Very Best Regards,
Christopher Marek Rencki FRAI
Director, Polish Heritage Society (UK) Ltd
Patron, Conservative Party
Number of Students taking Foreign Language A-Levels
Languages threatened by the recent AQA and OCR decisions are shown in Red Italics
| Position | Language |
2014 Number of |
2014 v 2013 |
| 1 | French | 10,433 | -7.40% |
| 2 | Spanish | 7,601 | -0.70% |
| 3 | German | 4,187 | -1.30% |
| 4 | Chinese | 3,113 | -6.40% |
| 5 | Classics: Latin | 1,298 | |
| 6 | Russian | 1,147 | 6.30% |
| 7 | Polish | 963 | 7.00% |
| 8 | Italian | 814 | -0.20% |
| 9 | Welsh | 692 | -8.00% |
| 10 | Arabic | 645 | 0.30% |
| 11 | Turkish | 466 | 11.20% |
| 12 | Urdu | 460 | -18.70% |
| 13 | Portuguese | 370 | 2.80% |
| 14 | Irish | 313 | 1.00% |
| 15 | Classics: Greek | 273 | |
| 16 | Japanese | 260 | -0.40% |
| 17 | Persian | 190 | 15.90% |
| 18 | Punjabi | 167 | -11.60% |
| 19 | Modern Greek | 150 | 23.00% |
| 20 | Dutch | 149 | 17.30% |
| 21 | Modern Hebrew | 52 | 13.00% |
| 22 | Biblical Hebrew | 44 | |
| 23 | Bengali | 42 | -25.00% |
| 24 | Gujarati | 19 | 46.20% |