WHEN Lilliana Stajic left her home town in Serbia she did not think it would be long before she was back.

She came to England at the age of 24, keen to improve her languages.

But 35 years on and Lilliana is only now set to make her first trip home.

She says a lot will have changed in Indija, the town where she was born.

When she left it was the height of the Cold War and Serbia was part of communist-run Yugoslavia.

Since then Yugoslavia has disintegrated and the Balkans are now a collection of newly-independent nations.

But despite her home town being ravaged by war during the 1990s Lilliana's family have told her it is a beautiful and prosperous town.

For the 60-year-old from Penhill it will be an emotional return.

She said: "I wanted to stay in a hotel but my family were going mad at me. They wanted me to stay with them.

"They think I'm a kid because they haven't seen me in 35 years.

"They're telling me what to bring and what to wear. I'm very, very emotional already.

"I want to do so many things but it's not possible to do them all at once."

Lilliana, who works at Homebase in Bridgemead, settled in Swindon after first arriving in London.

And she says the warmth of the people here was a major factor in her decision to stay.

For years Lilliana campaigned to help those in the war-torn Balkan region.

The people of Swindon always rose to the challenge whether it was donating food and blankets or pairs of shoes to be sent over or attending coffee mornings to raise funds.

Lilliana said: "I was fighting the war from Swindon. The whole idea was that my country was falling apart and I wanted to keep it together.

"The people of Swindon have always been fantastic. They have been marvellous, "They would always come to my aid and help out.

"People were always there for me and Serbia. I can never forget the people."

When Lilliana first came to England she worked as a chambermaid in a hotel for £8 a week before working her way up the ranks.

Despite looking forward to her trip home, where she will be reunited with family members including her great uncle's children and grandchildren, as well as meeting many nieces and nephews for the first time, Lilliana is understandably nervous.

She flies out for two weeks tomorrow.

If all goes well she will return for another holiday in November. Then in three years she says she could go back for good.

"I want to get used to living and speaking the language and see how people are and how they are going to behave with me," she said.

"I'm very excited but I don't know what I'm going to find.

"I won't recognise my home town. I have a mental picture of it in my head when I left 35 years ago.

"I want to see the way it is. My family say it's beautiful."