Miecia celebrates milestone 103rd birthday

103-year-old Meicia Jacobowska with her nephew Adrian Bratkowski.(1612172AM).

Born near Warsaw, Miecia Jacobowska has always been a family-oriented person, and went to great lengths to stay close to her brother Marion after the Second World War.

Miecia was sent to Germany to work in a cotton mill as forced labour, and Marion escaped from the Air Force Training College, going to England to work as a pilot in RAF Bomber Command.

Miecia lost all contact with her family after the war, and not knowing if anyone was left alive, she went in search of her brother.

She travelled to Brussels where the British Red Cross had a ledger of displaced people in Europe, and managed to find two Marion Bratkowskis. The first Marion Miecia contacted was not her brother.

Eventually, however, she managed to track him down and travelled to London to be reunited with her brother.

To stay in England, Miecia worked in a cotton mill in Rochdale. She did not enjoy the work and moved to Keighley to work in a woollen mill.

During this time she met and married Emil, the man she had known during her time as a forced labourer in Germany.

Miecia’s brother and his wife Beryl moved from London to Keighley to live closer to the newly-weds.

Miecia then lived in Leeds for a number of years, and worked in woollen mills until her late 70s after a stint at Elida Gibbs.

Cheryl Bratkowski said: “Meicia is my husband’s aunt, she is a very sweet person and it’s lovely to be celebrating her birthday.

“When she got a birthday card from the Queen for her 100th birthday, she showed it around to everybody, she was terribly proud of it. Everybody made a fuss of her, and she knows that everyone is going to be making a fuss of her this year for her 103rd birthday.

“We threw a special birthday party for her and brought her a cake.

“Miecia is a very fiesty lady, she is quite a strong character. She always enjoyed going out dancing when she was younger.”

Miecia enjoyed being surrounded by family for her birthday at Crystal Court care home in Pannal, where she currently resides. Do you have a story to share? Email [email protected]