After a rainy week the weather had considerably improved. During the weekend of 1st and 2nd of September 2007 we met again at the invitation of Paweł and Krystyna Konopacka in the Recreation Centre of Biała on the Pilica River. Almost 70 people arrived there, some of whom were visiting for the first time. The programme was interesting and varied. On the first day, Mr Aleksander Konopacki recounted the personal history of Halina Konopacka, the first Polish woman to win a gold medal in the discus competition during the International Olympiad in Amsterdam in 1928. She was a very multi-talented and courageous lady. She was very successful, not only in the many different sports that she participated in, but also in her poetry writing and painting. In September 1939, just after the start of the Second World War she assisted with the transportation of Polish gold in to France. Aleksander?s talk was accompanied by photographs from Halina?s private family album.
The second talk was prepared by Barbara Kłosowicz. She showed us a series of photographs taken during her journey to Argentina, tracing the footsteps of her uncle Tadeusz Konopacki who emigrated there in 1940. He was a specialist in aviation plywood and as a pioneer he was the first to build an aviation plywood factory in Tierra del Fuego in1946.
The next presentation was given by Ms Nela Major, who talked about her stay in Chicago where she made some photographs of Polish graves in the local cemeteries.
A new member of our group, Ms Maria Bunzel, told us about the Pytlos family who were the owners of the Modrzewek mill. Julian Pytlos bought Modrzewek from Franciszek Konopacki in 1890.
The next day, after the morning service in a local church in Biała, 40 of us went to visit the Cistercian Abbey in Sulejów founded in 1176. The church and the refectory, which were built in the 12th century, were only recently opened to the public after a total refurbishment.
We would like to thank Paweł and Krystyna for preparing and organising the interesting and highly enjoyable meeting as well as for their careful technical support. All the microphones, speakers and the VCR worked flawlessly.
