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Northern Echo to launch new column – in Polish

The Northern Echo is launching a new weekly column – with a difference: it will be in Polish.

It will be called Echo Polnocy, which is Polish for “The Northern Echo”.

There are now up to 7,000 Polish people living and working in Darlington and south Durham.

Editor Peter Barron said: “The Poles are here, doing useful jobs, and we need to talk to them.

“It is rather like the situation 150 years ago when people – our ancestors – were sucked into the North-East from all over the country to find jobs in the new industries and to build new lives.

“The Northern Echo would not be doing its job if it did not attempt to communicate with all the people living in its area.”

  • New columnist
  • Columnist Adam Gosiewski – born in the UK to an English mother and Polish naval father – said: “People talk about the Poles in the third person – the Poles are working here, the Poles are doing this.

    “And the Poles talk about the English in the same way.

    “There’s no ill-feeling, they just don’t talk to each other, and the column will hopefully be the first, important bridge between them.

    “It will help the Poles understand what’s going on and it will help them settle down as good citizens of this region. They may even come to understand what cricket is!”