Following the sad news of his death Beacon Radio have set up a facebook group to try and get a memorial in Wolverhampton for him .. If you feel this is appropriate please join http://aston.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6135302086
This man is a legend to the local area! And i think we should show our appreciation!
Apparently he is a Polish Man .. although I haven't asked him myself as rumour also has it he just growls at people if they get too close!
However .. I don't know how much of a tramp we can call him as he has a pretty nice set up in the middle of that dual carriageway .. apparently he has managed to claim squatters rights there, has gas and water supply and gets meals on wheels deliveries!!
Thanks to Dave for the following information pulled from The Guardian online...
Josef Stawinoga, 83, a second world war veteran from Poland, has been living in a tent on the grass island for 40 years.
Traumatised by war, he has a phobia of confined spaces. The ring road is the only place he feels secure. He believes the second world war is still being fought and fears strangers are out to harm him. He wanders the reservation, hoarding any litter he finds.
Refusing to answer to Josef, Mr Stawinoga is known as Fred and he has become an institution in the Midlands.
Some of Wolverhampton's Asians revere him as a holy man who has shunned all worldly possessions. Several regularly pay their respects. Every morning for the past 13 years, a Sikh woman has travelled six miles to leave a flask of hot tea and a sandwich outside the tent. Another Indian woman appeared one afternoon asking the hermit to pray for her family, who had vetoed her choice of husband.
Many believe Mr Stawinoga, who speaks only a few words of English, was held as a prisoner of war by the Russians.
But others, in the Polish community, say he was never captured. He arrived in Britain in 1946 and was a hospital orderly in Wales. His brief marriage to an Austrian woman failed and he found work at a steelworks in Wolverhampton.
Juliusz Leonowicz, 73, a retired electrician and Mr Stawinoga's only close friend, said: "One day he simply didn't turn up to work.
"We saw him in the city centre shortly afterwards, pushing his belongings around in a pram. He had always been a friendly, happy man, with a few mates. But when his income stopped, those mates dropped away."
He said items deposited outside the tent by well-wishers over the years include a satellite dish, a live chicken - which soon took up residence inside - and a £200 leather jacket.
"London has London Bridge, Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Wolverhampton has Fred. He's a landmark," Mr Leonowicz said.
(read less)Following the sad news of his death Beacon Radio have set up a facebook group to try and get a memorial in Wolverhampton for him .. If you feel this is appropriate please join http://aston.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6135302086
This man is a legend to the local area! And i think we should show our appreciation!
Apparently he is a Polish Man .. although I haven't asked him myself as rumour also has it he just growls at people if they get too close!
However .. I don't know how much of a tramp...
(read more)
