Hi, it’s Magdalena and Sergiusz Pinkwart. We came to Liverpool as emigrants from Poland, leaving behind our jobs as journalists and book authors. As well as our charity and volunteering work in the National Museum of Poland and the Museum of Warsaw Uprising 1944, where we collected for the future generations audiovisual testimonies of insurgents and civilians who survived the war in Warsaw. Here, in Liverpool, we had to start everything from scratch, facing the challenges encountered by every emigrant who tries to build their life in a new homeland.
About Us
Our Story
2016
2018
From the first days in our new city, we decided to volunteer with the most recognised Polish not for profit organisation in the Northwest of England – Merseyside Polonia. Our activity among the Polish community in Liverpool was quickly noticed and we began to be invited for the large events. As a classical musician, Sergiusz played at concerts and events for the Polish community. We used our knowledge and experience by conducting travel presentations and writers workshops for children and adults. It was a great honor for us to became regular hosts of the Liverpool’s Gala Concert of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity – the largest charity event in Poland.
2020
When the Covid-19 pandemic came and we tried to keep up with the UK regulations as well as official announcements, we soon realised that it was not easy for emigrants to find their way in the new situation, or to visit their families in Poland. Especially if they did not know the language well, and the regulations regarding tests and quarantine changed from day to day. It was the time when our journalistic call came to us and we set up the UK LIVE! news fanpage, which quickly gained several thousand followers. By explaining changes in regulations to Poles living in the UK, we felt needed in this difficult time. We believe in importance of UK LIVE! so that all residents of the United Kingdom of Polish origin have equal access to current information about life in Great Britain.
2021
We have started cooperation with Polish Saturday Schools in Liverpool and charitable work with another Polish organization in Liverpool, Polskie Merseyside. We conducted workshops and creative classes for children and adults, and organized meetings for the Polish community with artists, writers and sport personalities. We founded the Polish Traveler’s Club, where we organized guided tours around Merseyside and the surrounding area, helping members of the Polish community actively learn about the monuments and culture of the place where they live.
2022
When the war broke out in Ukraine, we immediately started helping. Polskie Merseyside organized an aid center for Ukraine, which received donations from both the Polish and English communities from the entire North-West region. We worked there as coordinators and volunteers, sorting gifts, working in warehouses loading trucks with aid – over 40 of them went to the border with Ukraine. We also collected funds and then personally went to Poland to donate them directly to organizations helping refugees from Ukraine. When the first refugees from Ukraine arrived in Liverpool, we helped them with translations, setteling down and arranging formalities necessary to start their lives in England.
2023
For the first time in Liverpool, we organized a traditional Burns Night to introduce the local Polish community to the poetry and culture of Scotland and the canon of British literature. During the Chinese New Year celebrations organized in Liverpool by its largest Chinese community in the UK, Magda performed as a Dragon Dancer. It brought us closer to the Chinese community in our city, with whom we cooperate to this day. After many years of acting for the local community, we decided to establish LiverPoland CIC, thanks to which we coordinated our actions and have the opportunity to work better and more effectively.
International Cooperation
We organize and co-organize events and celebrations for the Polish community living in the UK. We also cooperate with the Polish organizations all over the world exchanging experience and knowledge. We are part of the jury of plebiscites and competitions rewarding community champions who help vulnerable people around them. In 2023, in Liverpool, we supported the organization of the Great Gala of the Polish Personality of the Year competition, which was attended by deputies, senators, diplomatic corps and representatives of the Polish community from all over the world.