IT'S one of Bournemouth's most burgeoning ethnic groups and now the Polish community has its own newspaper.

The Polskie Echo is the brainchild of Polish journalist Arek Marciszek, 38, who left his home near Gdansk and his £200-a-month job on the country's national newspaper, the Gazeta Wyborcza, more than two years ago in the hope of earning a better wage in Bournemouth.

And there certainly seems to be a market here for his paper, which has grown over the last nine months from a single page handed out in local shops to a 20-page publication, with 2,500 copies going out each week in Bournemouth, Southampton and Manchester.

"There are many Polish people here in Bournemouth, and we didn't have any information service," says Arek, speaking through an interpreter from the newspaper's office in Cleveland Road, where the Polish language paper is now put together by a staff of two.

"What I wanted to do is to create some kind of paper to give us more information about what's going on here in Bournemouth and local areas and also in Poland," he said.

And, he added: "The paper is progressing and developing all the time, and the response has been pretty good."

As well as news, the paper has information about employment and places to rent for members of the Polish community.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, the country's nationals have been able to come here to work.

With Poland's high unemployment rates and low pay, Britain has been an attractive prospect and Poles now account for 300,000 migrants to the UK and Ireland.

"The hardest thing when you move to Britain is the beginning, the first few weeks, because if you find a job here, you can live here," he says.

Language is another issue, which is another reason that a newspaper in Polish is proving to be popular.

Arek is now starting to use the publication to campaign.

He has gathered a 2,000-name petition to get flights to Poland from Bournemouth or Southampton, and is negotiating with Ryanair on the issue.

"There's a 90 per cent chance we are going to get the flight," he says.

Another issue he is hoping to raise is the desire among Polish women for a Polish gynaecologist.

Sam Johnson, equalities and diversity manager for Bournemouth council, says Bournemouth has a sizeable Polish community, and a newspaper such as the Polskie Echo can help integrate them into the town.

"There is a gap in the market for papers like these, and they also give a different perspective about news issues from other publications," he says. "I think it will help to support the community. It's an alternative outlet, there's obviously a need for it and it's probably something that would be good for other large communities in Bournemouth.

"I think it's really positive."

And he says their campaigns could bring extra economic benefits to the town, for example an extra Ryanair flight could create more jobs.

Bournemouth council has access to Polish translators and also provides translated versions of its leaflets, including in Polish.

  • The Polskie Echo can be contacted on 01202 309941.