Hello Lovely Friend,
I hope you are well and enjoying the summer 🌞 The past few weeks have been incredibly inspiring, filled with music, history, community and unforgettable encounters. I’m also very excited to be performing at the Bedford Ukrainian Independence Day celebrations in a few weeks’ time. And after a powerful weekend at Bletchley Park, meeting extraordinary people and hearing remarkable stories, I wanted to share these moments with you.
Thank you, as always, for being here ❤️
UPCOMING PERFORMANCE: UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY, BEDFORD 🇺🇦
I am honoured to be returning to perform at Ukrainian Independence Day 2026 in Bedford a celebration of Ukrainian culture, resilience and community. Thank you again to Gosia Brady and her team at PBIC The Polish British Integration Centre in Bedford for hosting this event and for all the amazing work they are doing for the community.
📅 Sunday, 23 August 2026
🕛 12:00–4:00 pm
📍 Harpur Suite, Bedford
🇺🇦 Flag Raising Ceremony in Harpur Square
💙 Free entry
💛 Family-friendly
I am very happy to contribute musically to this important day, standing in solidarity with the Ukrainian community and celebrating their heritage with the wider Bedford audience.
THANK YOU, BLETCHLEY PARK AND THE POLISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE IN LONDON 🇵🇱
I was honoured to perform at Bletchley Park on 25–26 July 2026 as part of the Polish Codebreaking Festival a celebration of the extraordinary British–Polish WWII story behind the breaking of Enigma.
🎶 🎶 MY SONGS INSPIRED BY POLISH CODEBREAKERSDuring the Bletchley Park weekend, I performed two of my original songs that pay tribute to the extraordinary Polish cryptologists who helped crack the Enigma code.
The Mathematician honours Marian Rejewski, whose genius and courage led to the first breakthrough in deciphering Enigma before the war. The song captures the quiet intensity of his work and the beauty of logic and the bravery behind it.
Listen here : https://open.spotify.com/track/1auyeYcG1eTW3XZoBf1XhO
Bomba celebrates the invention of the bomba kryptologiczna, the electromechanical device created by Rejewski, Różycki and Zygalski to automate the decoding process. Its rhythm echoes the pulse of the machine itself, a heartbeat of innovation and hope.
Listen here : https://open.spotify.com/track/4T2bRE5LqtgdfR2tg7TzeX
Both songs remind us that behind every equation and circuit were people who risked everything for freedom. Their legacy continues to inspire my music and my mission to share Poland’s story with the world.
❤️BIG THANKYOU
❤️A very special thank you to Karolina Gorazda ❤️
Karolina kochana, thank you so much for inviting me to perform and for all your hard work organising this weekend. I loved every moment the atmosphere, the audience, the history, everything. Meeting your wonderful team Ania, Ania, Krzysiek, Piotrek and Waldek was such a joy. Such kind, open, brilliant people.
Below at Bletchley Park’s Polish Memorial honouring Polish Mathematicians Rejewski, Zygalski and Różycki who first deciphered the Enigma codes in Poland’s progressive 20 year work 1919 – 1939 when operations had to cease due to German and Russian invasion and occupation of Poland. I also had the honour of meeting Anna Zygalski Polish mathematician’s niece – she was so lovely pictured right in front of the memorial
❤️ I was so happy to see Basia Fryc, who has done so much to share Polish heritage in the Bletchley area aswell as organising Polish Days at Bletchley Park for many years. Basia has been a long‑term friend of mine, and her dedication to keeping our history alive through local community work is truly inspiring. It was wonderful to reconnect and celebrate these stories together.
Below at Bletchley Park with Alexander Smaga RIBA Architect and designer of the Polish Air Force Memorial in Normandy, Gary Historian, Krzysztof Dubicki – The Polish Cultural Institute in London’s Specialist for Public & Cultural Diplomacy/ Projects Coordinator, Anna Tryc-Bromley – Director of The Polish Cultural Institute, London, Basia Fryc and Katy Carr
❤️ I also absolutely loved watching the performance of the Mazury dance group 💃
The ladies already want to collaborate and we are planning to meet in Hampstead Heath soon for a sing. Karolina, you created this opportunity you are our biggest champion now.
❤️ A huge shout-out to the Enfield-based Onon restaurant who fed us completely for free. Their kindness made our day. Truly lovely people and we loved meal they gave us because they loved my musical performance so much.
❤️ I also had the pleasure of meeting Mike Cashman pictured on far right of photo below and his wife Charlotte with his incredible model of the The Pyry meeting the moment when the Polish mathematicians revealed their Enigma‑breaking methods to the British and French which took place on 25–26 July 1939 in the Pyry/Kabaty Forest south of Warsaw. Mike and Charlotte have created a musical about Bletchley Park, and Mike has an extraordinary background in programme leadership, cross-cultural facilitation and making complexity intelligible. He also demonstrates the rebuilt Turing-Welchman Bombe at The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley.
🇵🇱 MORE ON THE PYRY MEETING — WHERE THE ALLIES FIRST SAW HOW ENIGMA COULD BE BROKEN
In July 1939, just weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War, a remarkable secret meeting took place in the Pyry/Kabaty Forest on the outskirts of Warsaw. On 25–26 July 1939, the Polish Cipher Bureau invited British and French intelligence officers to witness how the Polish mathematicians had already broken the German Enigma cipher. Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski demonstrated their methods, shared the bomba kryptologiczna, the Zygalski sheets, and handed over Polish‑built Enigma replicas.
The British and French were astonished. This meeting accelerated Allied codebreaking by at least a year and laid the foundations for the later successes at Bletchley Park. The Pyry meeting remains one of the most important intelligence gatherings of the 20th century a moment when mathematics, courage and international cooperation changed the course of history.
❤️Another highlight was meeting Ferdynand “Fred” Stanislaw Vanke, a 103-year-old former Polish radio operator who served at Boxmoor, a Polish SIGINT station near Hemel Hempstead which supported Bletchley Park.
I spoke with him in Polish 🇵🇱 and he told me about what the Polish mathematicians were like Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski.
📸 Photo 1: Ferdynand “Fred” Stanislaw Vanke in 1943
📸 Photo 2: Ferdynand “Fred” Stanislaw Vanke with Katy Carr July 25th 2026 – as Fred lives near my hometown of Loughborough in Leics I will be visiting him soon 🙂
It was wonderful to hear that new research from the Bletchley Park team has shed fresh light on the vital role Polish personnel played in Allied codebreaking. Researchers have identified 27 Polish codebreakers and signals intelligence workers who supported Bletchley Park during World War Two, with more names expected to follow.
Below with Iain Standen CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust, the organisation that runs Bletchley Park the historic site of secret British code breaking activities during WWII
TVP POLONIA COVERAGE For those who would like to see more, here is the recent TVP Polonia feature connected to the Polish Festival at Bletchley Park:
https://polonia.tvp.pl/polacy-na-swiecie/polski-triumf-w-bletchley-park-pierwsza-edycja-polish-codebreaking-festivalFull programme: https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/event/polish-festival/Organised by Bletchley Park with the Polish Cultural Institute in London, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London and the Enigma Cipher Centre in Poznań.
WE REMEMBER: DANUTA REUTT (1937–2026) 🕊️
On 2 July 2026, I attended the Requiem Mass for Danuta Reutt Karol at the London Oratory a deeply moving farewell to a remarkable woman.
Danuta was a great musician, songwriter, cultural guardian and dear friend. For almost half a century she devoted herself to preserving and promoting Polish song within the Polish émigré and British communities. With a repertoire of over 500 songs, she carried Poland’s musical heritage with dignity, passion and love.
Her warm alto voice, her clarity of diction, her devotion to Our Lady of Częstochowa, her poetry, her compositions, her generosity of spirit all of these made her unforgettable.
Born in Równe, Wołyń, daughter of Major Tomasz Reutt and Halina Konopko, goddaughter of Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły, survivor of the Warsaw Uprising, structural engineer, performer, grandmother, poet Danuta lived a life of courage, resilience and service.
My deepest sympathy to her wonderful family, and especially to her daughter Bożena, who has always been so supportive of my music.
Wieczny odpoczynek racz jej dać, Panie.
May she rest in peace.
❤️ Danuta’s funeral was filled with love, music and memory a testament to a life lived with purpose and devotion. Her legacy will continue to inspire all of us who carry Polish music into the world.
Thank you for reading and for supporting my work.
Sending you warmth, music and solidarity always.
Katy Carr Singer • Songwriter • Storyteller of Polish history
❤️ KATY CARR’s previous newsletters 🙂 https://katycarr.com/category/newsletters/★CHECK OUT MY LINKTREE – https://linktr.ee/katycarr ★ ❤️❤️❤️