I was born and raised in Leeds along with my two brothers and two sisters. My parents were both displaced persons after WWII, originally from Poland, they met and married in

England so I am definitely British, but to my great shame I speak very little Polish. My mother raised us on her own, she was extremely hardworking and instilled us all with the

same work ethos.

I was an average student; after passing my 11 plus I went to an all-girls Catholic grammar school, followed by teacher training college where I qualified as an infant’s teacher. I had

already decided teaching was not for me and instead I went into manufacturing as a production control clerk in a worsted mill, much more to my liking.

I had a number of different jobs throughout my working life, but always preferred working in manufacturing. I met my husband Ian whilst working at British Gas in the customer

service department. It was at this point when I finally achieved my goal of taking my mother back to Poland to see her family after 48 years in the UK.

We had a wonderful week in her home town of Nowy Targ. Naturally it was a very emotional reunion, I discovered I had a grandad, uncles, aunts and cousins, it was quite

overwhelming.

Our decision to move to France was not through a knowledge of the country, but to have an adventure. We had been to the south of France, Loire and Dordogne on touring holidays

and liked what we saw. We began our search for a house in the Lot, but ended up buying a property in the Dordogne at Salignac Eyvigues in 2004.

I am a keen gardener, but also like dressmaking, knitting, cooking, walking and reading. In the last year I have taken up line dancing through the association Pineuilh Accueil.

We made France our permanent home in 2007 and have never looked back. We joined a local association making many new friends, both French and English. We sold the house in

2019 after deciding to downsize and moved to our present home in the Gironde in 2020. I joined the DLCI last year as a means of meeting new people and making friends, a necessity in a foreign land.