THE image of the leader of the district council wearing a Stetson, standing on a bench and dancing to Achy Breaky Heart, once contemplated is impossible to forget.

The occasion is the subject of one of many anecdotes recounted by Mike Oborski in his new charity fund-raising memoir, Bigos (stew) & Chips, or the joys and perils of an Anglo-Polish life.

From the time when, aged five, he reduced a class of Glaswegian schoolmates to stunned silence by reciting the names of Napoleon's generals as a party piece - used by his father, who didn't know any English nursery rhymes, to lull his son to sleep - the putative political giant knew he was different.

The gradual and sometimes uneasy discovery of his Polish roots, political activism in support of the banned Solidarity trade union during the 80s, subsequent visits to Poland and work as an honorary Polish consul for the West Midlands are all explored in 200 pages of "generally humorous anecdotes".

Surprisingly perhaps, the author reveals his distaste for "turgid, time-consuming and often unproductive or downright destructive" district council committee meetings as "egos, vindictiveness, score-settling, point-making and hidden agendas replace the real business on the agenda."

There is insight too into the private life. Of his marriage to fellow councillor Fran the author writes: "Our relationship has always been stormy and lively. We are both difficult to live with, cantankerous and outspoken.

"Fran will never know how much I love her despite the way I sometimes behave and I suspect she would say exactly the same about me."

"Cantankerous and outspoken" is a description staff at the Polish Embassy in London are likely to have concurred with during the 1980s when the author was a frequent participant in pro-Solidarity demos.

However, it was not until 1989, on the eve of his 43rd birthday, that the author visited Poland and this and subsequent visits provide insights into its social, cultural and material differences.

There is obvious anger at the tragic history of his second homeland and in particular at the perceived failure of the Allies, including Britain, to come to the aid of the embattled Polish Republic.

But it is the image of the author, vodka in hand, cowboy hat on head, dragooned into dancing to a Polish cover of Achy Break Heart which abides. "Dance English", he was told, and dance he did.

All profits from the book, costing £12 by Mike and Fran Oborski, will go to help Polish children through Father Bernard's Children's Fund.