IMMIGRATION FEATURE: JIM Pajak made his home in Swindon after travelling the world in the Polish army during World War II.

He was even a prisoner of war in Russia and that's where the 83-year-old learned English.

"Some of the Polish soldiers were always hoping to go back home after the war ended but I decided I wanted to settle here.

"There was no proper government in Poland. Communism wasn't what we fought for. People who were not in favour of it were persecuted."

After the war he went to Manchester where he met his wife Josephine, 77, and the couple moved to Swindon in 1954. He worked at Lister's, the engine manufacturers in Wroughton, and later for Plessey.

They had one son who is former Swindon mayor Coun Stan Pajak (Lib Dem, Eastcott).

In 1961, Mr Pajak, who lives in Morse Street in the town centre, was naturalised and became a British citizen.

He said: "When I came here, Swindon was much smaller there were 60,000 people. It has all changed. They had just stared building Penhill, there was no Lawns, no Eldene, no Dorcan. Now it is more cosmopolitan."

Jim was once an active member of the Swindon Amateur Light Operatic Society and once played chess for Wiltshire.