As a small child, in the late 1950s, my family were Catholics in small town Britain.
We were Irish/English.
On the outskirts of the town was a 'camp' which was home to Italian, Polish, Latvian refugees.
All Catholics.
My junior school was full of children of different nationalities, it seemed quite normal to us.
As Catholics, we were out of the mainstream of the town anyway.
My parents took over a small hotel.
Many of our guests were visiting priests, but we also accumulated a small number of young men, Irish, who had started training for the priesthood, but who had fallen by the wayside .
Their migration to Britain was forced by the shame that would fall on their families if they went home as failed seminarians.
In brief, I grew up surrounded by immigrants, and thought little of it.
Going to tea with friends was often exciting, because of unfamiliar food.
I did notice cultural differences. My best friend's father was Polish, and he maintained a magnificent vegetable garden. No English people I knew would work so hard to produce food.
Once, the Duke of Edinburgh came to visit our town .
All the schoolchildren in town were herded to meet him where his helicopter landed, and the children of all the schools but ours waved Union Jacks.
We were encouraged to stand still.
I expect we were told to pray.
So, although I was born in England, I never felt totally English.
I have lived as an immigrant, in Ireland and France, for much of my adult life .
So looking forward to that post. So sick to death of the spin, the demonising, the generalisation, the dehumanising of a group of people I think of as assets. Sock it to us; I welcome the facts even if it makes me feel worse.
Like you, I am an immigrant from South Africa. I came over for no reason other than I wanted something new. I had a great job in the Mother City. Great friends and a good standard of living. I was in my 30s and needed a kick up the arse. Luckily I had access to an ancestry visa through my maternal grandmother. I had no job to come to. A one-way ticket. Friends who offered me a room. £2000 in my pocket and a suitcase full of totally unsuitable clothing. I landed at Heathrow on a very cold January morning. I had been told to have chest x-rays to prove that I was not bringing in TB. I was herded into a tiny room at the airport with loads of others from all over the world. My first experience of what was to come was when a man who had come in on a flight from Asia did not have x-rays. He was told to go down the corridor to get them done. He arrived back a while later and was able to explain in very poor English that he could not work out how to turn on the machine. This resulted in gales of laughter from the officials behind the desks. Most of us looked on aghast. It was clear the man was nervous; had very poor English and was confused. He did not need to be laughed at.
I am a secondary school teacher with English being my main subject. "How can you teach us English? You are South African!" was something said to me very early into my teaching career here. My response: "Because I know the rules better than you!" At a formal work do, the wife to one of the governors looked at me and said: "Oh no! Not another South African. And let me guess, you teach English". I gave her the same response I gave the pupil. I was asked by another governor: "So which part of the union do you come from?" I took great delight in telling him that the Union had ceased to exist in 1961. A mere 40 years earlier! I was not really offended by any of these. I found it all rather amusing. I did have the last word in all 3 interactions!
But I will say that generally, I have been made to feel very welcome. I am aware enough, I think, to know that the fact I am a mother tongue English speaker and white has made things much easier for me. Yes, the system here does not trust my teaching qualification. I could only get supply teaching to start with. One of my employers said: "You South Africans are so well trained". Yes, we were. Not so sure what it is like now as I qualified in the late 80s and early 90s. But I would have had to add to my qualifications to land a permanent job in the state sector so I ended up going private and spent 22 happy years in the classroom but eventually left it to follow my second career in mental health.
But I cannot abide the immigrant rhetoric that we are being inundated with. I know that I have added value to many pupils over 22 years in the classroom. I have paid taxes for over 24 years. I have voted in every local and national election since landing. I have been a British Citizen for almost 20. But I still refer to myself as a South African. I now just travel on a British Passport. My heritage is important to me. I will not deny it.
The UK I live in now is quite different to the UK I landed in all those years ago. I find it a little less tolerant and less open to others. It feels quite cruel at times. But I would still rather be here than anywhere else. I have a home, a great circle of friends and a job I love. I do not have the energy to start all over again. Once was enough. I don't think those who have never decided to move country understand what it means. I was lucky - I did it by choice. There are many who feel they have no choice. That can only make it much harder. I was told: "You are not an immigrant ; you are an economic migrant." Does that really make a difference? We are all human. We should all be treated as such. With kindness, understanding and respect.
My grandparents on my mothers side were both immigrants, sadly neither are around to tell their story. I went to school in East London in 50's and in my class there were Maltese, Spanish, Polish, Indian, African, Afro-Caribbean and Jewish, my teacher was from Belgium. There was no noticeable difference in attitude, we were all children and just made friends with each other as children do, without any form of discrimination, I really don't think we noticed any difference, we were all just kids. My son married an American girl (they met through a friend of my sons when they were both visiting America) some years ago, she is disabled, they courted for over 10 years with trips made to and from over all those years. Sadly, my son was unable to obtain a visa for his wife to come and live here, partly because he was deemed not to be earning enough to cover her medical bills for the first few years until she could become a citizen, his earnings were also deemed not enough to support her anyway, even though they would have both been living with me and so the usual overheads of setting up a home wouldn't have applied. My daughter in law lived in a backwater of New York State where my son would have had a real struggle to find employment if he had moved there. Sadly, they have divorced now as the struggle to maintain a long distance marriage without hope of being able to live together has proved too much. I have no problem with people coming into the country, they add to the rich tapestry of our lives, I do have a problem with the powers that be, who seem to have a final say in who you can love and live with.
Thank you for doing this. For the time being I am going to avoid reading other people's stories on this page, not because I don't want to know, but simply because I don't want my view/story to be coloured by their views, until I have put it into words myself (heck it has already been affected by the stories I regularly read on RFUK - Reunite Families UK - on FB).
I will do my best to get scribbling and hopefully add something that may (or may not) be useful for this wonderful project shortly.
As a child we had a variety of incomers. I never knew of any who did not work incredibly hard. Generally a mix of Polish and Italian people, Lithuanian, people from Pakistan and India (fled partition) all of whom, I was told as a child were refugees, escapees from oppression and it was our moral duty to be kind because it could just as easily be us. I am from a blue collar community. Re the media question - I may be mistaken but my perception is that grooming and exploitation by Caucasian criminals is reported to a lesser degree by the media than the criminal activities of non Caucasians (white eastern block excepted). So where have we failed. Somehow, we have failed to integrate people to our society, we have failed to address their trauma and subsequent detachment from a sense of humanity. Does this make me a bleeding heart ? Undoubtedly yes - for there are criminal entities of all creeds and colours who care nothing for their fellow human beings (traumatised or not). Re personal experience - 2 people I know personally have had issues with immigration where their working spouses were threatened with deportation. (One of those spouses had a high ranking medical job in a large city hospital.)
My school in NW London in the late 50’s had the first children from British Guyana. A brother and sister. They were easily absorbed into the mix. I was particular friends with Paula and it was her brother who taught me to do the Twist. We had several Pakistani families and one Indian family.
My father was Jewish and it was the only time I ever dared argue with him when he forbade me to bring any ‘of those people’ home. I said he should understand as he was Jewish. He was exceedingly angry and sent me to my room. My mother and l disobeyed him and l did bring my friends home.
I have never had a problem with immigration. We also had a great neighbour and his wife who was Polish and such lovely people.
As a small child, in the late 1950s, my family were Catholics in small town Britain.
We were Irish/English.
On the outskirts of the town was a 'camp' which was home to Italian, Polish, Latvian refugees.
All Catholics.
My junior school was full of children of different nationalities, it seemed quite normal to us.
As Catholics, we were out of the mainstream of the town anyway.
My parents took over a small hotel.
Many of our guests were visiting priests, but we also accumulated a small number of young men, Irish, who had started training for the priesthood, but who had fallen by the wayside .
Their migration to Britain was forced by the shame that would fall on their families if they went home as failed seminarians.
In brief, I grew up surrounded by immigrants, and thought little of it.
Going to tea with friends was often exciting, because of unfamiliar food.
I did notice cultural differences. My best friend's father was Polish, and he maintained a magnificent vegetable garden. No English people I knew would work so hard to produce food.
Once, the Duke of Edinburgh came to visit our town .
All the schoolchildren in town were herded to meet him where his helicopter landed, and the children of all the schools but ours waved Union Jacks.
We were encouraged to stand still.
I expect we were told to pray.
So, although I was born in England, I never felt totally English.
I have lived as an immigrant, in Ireland and France, for much of my adult life .
Thank you so much for this, Miranda - would it be okay if I shared some of your story in my project?
Yes of course
So looking forward to that post. So sick to death of the spin, the demonising, the generalisation, the dehumanising of a group of people I think of as assets. Sock it to us; I welcome the facts even if it makes me feel worse.
Hi.
Like you, I am an immigrant from South Africa. I came over for no reason other than I wanted something new. I had a great job in the Mother City. Great friends and a good standard of living. I was in my 30s and needed a kick up the arse. Luckily I had access to an ancestry visa through my maternal grandmother. I had no job to come to. A one-way ticket. Friends who offered me a room. £2000 in my pocket and a suitcase full of totally unsuitable clothing. I landed at Heathrow on a very cold January morning. I had been told to have chest x-rays to prove that I was not bringing in TB. I was herded into a tiny room at the airport with loads of others from all over the world. My first experience of what was to come was when a man who had come in on a flight from Asia did not have x-rays. He was told to go down the corridor to get them done. He arrived back a while later and was able to explain in very poor English that he could not work out how to turn on the machine. This resulted in gales of laughter from the officials behind the desks. Most of us looked on aghast. It was clear the man was nervous; had very poor English and was confused. He did not need to be laughed at.
I am a secondary school teacher with English being my main subject. "How can you teach us English? You are South African!" was something said to me very early into my teaching career here. My response: "Because I know the rules better than you!" At a formal work do, the wife to one of the governors looked at me and said: "Oh no! Not another South African. And let me guess, you teach English". I gave her the same response I gave the pupil. I was asked by another governor: "So which part of the union do you come from?" I took great delight in telling him that the Union had ceased to exist in 1961. A mere 40 years earlier! I was not really offended by any of these. I found it all rather amusing. I did have the last word in all 3 interactions!
But I will say that generally, I have been made to feel very welcome. I am aware enough, I think, to know that the fact I am a mother tongue English speaker and white has made things much easier for me. Yes, the system here does not trust my teaching qualification. I could only get supply teaching to start with. One of my employers said: "You South Africans are so well trained". Yes, we were. Not so sure what it is like now as I qualified in the late 80s and early 90s. But I would have had to add to my qualifications to land a permanent job in the state sector so I ended up going private and spent 22 happy years in the classroom but eventually left it to follow my second career in mental health.
But I cannot abide the immigrant rhetoric that we are being inundated with. I know that I have added value to many pupils over 22 years in the classroom. I have paid taxes for over 24 years. I have voted in every local and national election since landing. I have been a British Citizen for almost 20. But I still refer to myself as a South African. I now just travel on a British Passport. My heritage is important to me. I will not deny it.
The UK I live in now is quite different to the UK I landed in all those years ago. I find it a little less tolerant and less open to others. It feels quite cruel at times. But I would still rather be here than anywhere else. I have a home, a great circle of friends and a job I love. I do not have the energy to start all over again. Once was enough. I don't think those who have never decided to move country understand what it means. I was lucky - I did it by choice. There are many who feel they have no choice. That can only make it much harder. I was told: "You are not an immigrant ; you are an economic migrant." Does that really make a difference? We are all human. We should all be treated as such. With kindness, understanding and respect.
My grandparents on my mothers side were both immigrants, sadly neither are around to tell their story. I went to school in East London in 50's and in my class there were Maltese, Spanish, Polish, Indian, African, Afro-Caribbean and Jewish, my teacher was from Belgium. There was no noticeable difference in attitude, we were all children and just made friends with each other as children do, without any form of discrimination, I really don't think we noticed any difference, we were all just kids. My son married an American girl (they met through a friend of my sons when they were both visiting America) some years ago, she is disabled, they courted for over 10 years with trips made to and from over all those years. Sadly, my son was unable to obtain a visa for his wife to come and live here, partly because he was deemed not to be earning enough to cover her medical bills for the first few years until she could become a citizen, his earnings were also deemed not enough to support her anyway, even though they would have both been living with me and so the usual overheads of setting up a home wouldn't have applied. My daughter in law lived in a backwater of New York State where my son would have had a real struggle to find employment if he had moved there. Sadly, they have divorced now as the struggle to maintain a long distance marriage without hope of being able to live together has proved too much. I have no problem with people coming into the country, they add to the rich tapestry of our lives, I do have a problem with the powers that be, who seem to have a final say in who you can love and live with.
Hi Elaine,
That's a beautifully told, lovely, poignant story. Thank you so much.
Would you be okay if I used it in my project?
Feel free :)
Thank you for doing this. For the time being I am going to avoid reading other people's stories on this page, not because I don't want to know, but simply because I don't want my view/story to be coloured by their views, until I have put it into words myself (heck it has already been affected by the stories I regularly read on RFUK - Reunite Families UK - on FB).
I will do my best to get scribbling and hopefully add something that may (or may not) be useful for this wonderful project shortly.
As a child we had a variety of incomers. I never knew of any who did not work incredibly hard. Generally a mix of Polish and Italian people, Lithuanian, people from Pakistan and India (fled partition) all of whom, I was told as a child were refugees, escapees from oppression and it was our moral duty to be kind because it could just as easily be us. I am from a blue collar community. Re the media question - I may be mistaken but my perception is that grooming and exploitation by Caucasian criminals is reported to a lesser degree by the media than the criminal activities of non Caucasians (white eastern block excepted). So where have we failed. Somehow, we have failed to integrate people to our society, we have failed to address their trauma and subsequent detachment from a sense of humanity. Does this make me a bleeding heart ? Undoubtedly yes - for there are criminal entities of all creeds and colours who care nothing for their fellow human beings (traumatised or not). Re personal experience - 2 people I know personally have had issues with immigration where their working spouses were threatened with deportation. (One of those spouses had a high ranking medical job in a large city hospital.)
My school in NW London in the late 50’s had the first children from British Guyana. A brother and sister. They were easily absorbed into the mix. I was particular friends with Paula and it was her brother who taught me to do the Twist. We had several Pakistani families and one Indian family.
My father was Jewish and it was the only time I ever dared argue with him when he forbade me to bring any ‘of those people’ home. I said he should understand as he was Jewish. He was exceedingly angry and sent me to my room. My mother and l disobeyed him and l did bring my friends home.
I have never had a problem with immigration. We also had a great neighbour and his wife who was Polish and such lovely people.
Have emailed you with my plan for a longer piece