My parents Janina and Stanisław lived in Doddington camp and I was born in Nantwich in 1955.  One of my first early memories was toddling along a path in Doddington Camp.  My mother Janina together with auntie Władysława Świstek were walking behind me, as I was overwhelmed with the most glorious vivid colours of pansies growing alongside the path. As a toddler, the paths seemed to go on forever and were a source of adventure as, according to my mother, I ingeniously contrived and managed to escape the family garden to explore, much to my mother's despair. One memory that was less exciting was my first visit to the nursery where I puzzled over why I would need to take a nap, when the sun was shining outside and adventure was beckoning.

One special event at the camp when I was a little older, caused all the adults to dress up in their Sunday best while mum carefully dressed me in my Polish costume, but I cannot remember the reason for the event. My older brother Gienek was fortunate to have a wonderful playground in the nearby woods, to my annoyance as I was too young to go along.

What better way to integrate than through a successful football team: White Eagle, which my brother was part of!

Gran was picked by an elderly man and taken to work on his farm. He was fairly strict and he only spoke German so Janina and the farmer didn't understand each other at all.  Gran's link was a Ukrainian woman who was also working at the farm, the Polish and the Ukrainian languages are similar even though there are some differences, she also spoke German so she translated what the farmer said as best she could. But with the work there was no time for being friends, even though Gran liked her, because she was nice during this time.  The food that she lived on was food from the land; cheese, bread, bacon and milk.  The work that Gran did was mainly working the land, but she also cleaned the animals and milked the cows.

After the war

After living there for a year, the war finished, and she was told to report to an American camp for post-prisoner citizens. She didn't stay there very long. The camp was moved to another town, and then they were transported to Italy in lorries. At first, I imagined that the 'camps' were tents or wooden huts, but Gran told me that they were brick buildings. People began to make friends, as most of them weren't going home, and it was pretty clear that they would be living in camps for quite a while.

Janina and her friends stayed in the camp in Italy for a year and they didn't lose out on any fun. One night, Gran and her friend went into the town and were out so late that when they got back it was after hours and the American soldiers wouldn't let them back in! They were frightened that they would have to find somewhere else to sleep but they were allowed back in eventually.

Living in England

After a year in Italy, they went to England. They were put into a camp near Hull and later Liverpool. That young man's name was Stanislaw Dopierała, and he and Gran were put into the same camp. Stan's sister and mother were put into the Hull camp also, but two of his other sisters were sent to Scotland, Gladys and Stefa. Later on, Gladys moved back south into the area.