Petition to save ‘Little Poland’

MORE than 10,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to step in and save Devon's own ‘Little Poland’.

- GUY HENDERSON Local Democracy Reporter

The future of the Ilford Park Polish Home at Stover - the country’s last remaining ‘hostel’ for Polish veterans who served alongside British forces in the Second World War - is in doubt.

It was opened under the Polish Resettlement Act in 1947 as part of the ‘Winston Churchill Promise’ that Britain would never forget its debt to Poland, but the number of people living there has dwindled to the point where its owner the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has begun a consultation on its future.

Local campaigner Jerry Bird launched the online petition on the official UK government website, and it has now surpassed 10,000 signatures, so will trigger an official government response. It currently stands at just over 10,300.