I am writing this to remember a very special family adventure that started 50 years ago when my Dad said he was going to work in Nigeria. It was a surprise, but his cousin 's husband had worked in Enugu in the emerging oil business for years, so it wasn't all that out of the ordinary.
Nigeria gained Independence on 1st October 1960, so Dad must have had one of the first appointments made after Independence to support the transition of power. He loved the time he spent in Nigeria with a passion that never left him for the rest of his life. He often spoke about Nigeria and our home had lots of craft and souvenirs on display.
On 3rd January 1961 my brother aged 17, my Mum: Mary Brant Williams, my Dad: John Williams and myself: Elizabeth Mary Williams aged 11, travelled to London from our home in the small English village of Blakedown, to Heathrow Airport to see Dad off on his adventure to take up the post of Chief Technical Education Officer for the Western Region of Nigeria.
My brother took this photo of Dad in his office at the Ministry in Ibadan. Now 50 years on, I am taking part in a project on Facebook to share our family memories and photos of Nigeria. I am now known as Liz Millman and I followed in my father's footsteps in teaching and educational management. My specialism is literacy development. I have recently set up a "community interest company" called "Learning Links International Networking c.i.c." so I suppose this is one way to network! For more about me - click on the right.
So, let me introduce my Dad, John Williams. He was born in 1918 had been brought up by his mother in Menai Bridge, North Wales. He needed to be adventurous as he had to leave home at the age of 17 to find work in a factory in England to help to support himself and his mother. He met my mother and they married in 1943 and lived in Stafford. Dad studied at Night School to gain the qualifications needed to go into teaching at a Technical College. He then taught electrical engineering, before becoming Vice Principal at Halesown College.
Mum, my brother and I travelled to Nigeria in July 1961 and stayed for about 6 memorable weeks. Dad had thought carefully and planned to take us to explore around the "Western Region" as part of his everyday activities, as he could not take much time off. Here are Mum, my brother and I with some Nigerian friends by a large termite mound. I have my Brownie Box camera, but can't find the black and white contact strip of my photos, but Dad and my brother took brilliant photos on slides. We have about 400 slides, so it's a challenge to share them and also Mum and Dad wrote to one another almost every day throughout the year. My brother and I wrote to Dad every now and again. I recently found all these airmail letters and have started to piece together the story and the photos.
This is me in Dad's garden wearing the lovely Nigerian costume that was made for me as a gift. I still have this outfit today. I was so excited to have the opportunity to travel, to fly for the first time and to meet the wonderful people who were friends of Dad's.
Here is my brother in his Nigerian robes. He was a great musician and was keen on plants and bugs - he still is!
We often stopped when we were travelling to take a break and talk to local people. I remember everyone was very friendly. These children were on their way home from school and were happy to pose with us for the photo.
