Unravelling the mystery that was ‘Polish’ Anna

She was large, strong and far from bonny and wore a host of badges in the lapels of her masculine jacket.

Anna would hang around the markets, and particularly John Street Market, helping the traders in exchange for modest payment or cups or tea and provisions. She would sometimes sing in a thunderous contralto voice that set the pigeons rising from the market roof. Or she would bang her walking stick down on dustbin lids, causing unsuspecting passers-by to leap for safety.

Although many people knew Anna by sight and reputation, it seemed that no-one knew her story: how she came to Bradford, where she came from, and what had happened to her. There were rumours that she had been experimented on by the Nazis in a concentration camp, which accounted for her confused sexuality.

After Anna died in December, 1984, aged 76, a man who lived near her home in Chain Street picked up an envelope that had been thrown out near a skip. It contained a collection of photographs from Anna's life. Not knowing what else to do with it he took it home, put it in a drawer and forgot about it. But recently, having a clear-out, he came across it again and brought the photographs in to the T&A. That prompted us to ask readers what they knew about the woman who, it seems almost certain, was "Polish Anna".

The memories came flooding in. But it seems that no-one could tell us her story. So it's left to these photographs to offer some tantalising clues to a young life in Poland and a later life in Bradford of the woman called Aneila Torba. What happened in between remains a mystery and a matter for speculation.

Here are some of the things you had to tell us.

David Jones, headmaster at Holybrook Primary School, researched Anna's life for his booklet Uncommon Lives, about 40 remarkable people. His belief is that she was a victim of Dachau concentration camp and the rumour was that she had been experimented on. He doesn't discount one theory that when the war ended she found herself being ill-treated again, this time by the Russians. "At the end of the war, with the huge population movement that went with it, some people escaped from one tyranny straight into another," he says. As for that walking stick: "I once saw her ping someone on the ankle bone with it, some kid who was giving her grief. The way she hoarded money was almost like the way she was with badges. If she saw you with a badge on she would ask you to give her it. Her story is a testimony to that whole Holocaust period."

Mrs Annie Sergeant was a nursing sister at Morton Banks hospital, Riddlesden, from 1950 when Anna worked in the kitchens. "We knew her as Amelia. The matron at the time was concerned about what she did with her wages, so the secretary went to the bank with her and helped her to open an account."

Mrs Barbara Garnett worked with Anna at Morton Banks from 1950-52. She was a cook and Anna helped out around the place, where the staff lived in. "She was a lovely person. When she was in a good mood she'd do anything. But if she was in another sort of mood she'd just sit for hours doing nothing. We had some lovely times together, but no-one was really sure if she was a woman or a man."

From Sutton, Ely, Cambridgshire, Mrs Jacqueline Roe writes: "In 1962 I left school at 15 and went to work at Joseph Dawson's Cashmere Works. Anna was one of the first workers I met and I have to admit to feeling a little afraid but I needn't have. She looked after me and wouldn't let anyone do anything to upset me. After I left the mill I would often see her around the market and she would always shout and wave."

Florence Dunn remembers Anna in the 1950s walking up Thornton Road towards Woolcombers' mill at Fairweather Green. "She always wore an old hat, an Army great coat, and big boots. She would whistle away, fingers in her mouth. I remember her in the open-air market, hugging huge trays of dozens of mugs of tea. My last view of her, in the market, she was sat on a bench near Eve's Kichen. I would give her 10p for a mug of tea from the young man at Eve's."

Gary Lorriman writes: "Being born and bred on the back streets of Manningham, going to the pictures' was the highlight. If the film had an A' category, under 16s needed to be accompanied by an adult. I would hang around the picture house, asking adults if they would take me in, and the woman I knew as Anna the Pole' did so on many occasions. Once inside she would tell you to scaramoosh'."

David Oldfield: "I used to go to the Marlborough Cinema when I was about seven and Anna used to say David, you are not old enough to be here.' When I got to be nine she said: David, you are old enough now.' I never knew how she knew my name, but I think it's because my mother used to work at Craven Dairies in Ivegate and Anna used to go in there. In the market, if anyone wanted any help, she'd pick up sacks of potatoes and boxes of oranges. She was very strong. As for that stick, I once saw her rap someone's knuckles with it."

Another reader, Christine, writes: "Anna was always around John Street and Rawson markets. She would sit on the bench outside. She would shake her stick at you and make a sound which didn't resemble a language. I never heard her speak English. She would chase the young men working in Rawson Market. Anna really waddled when she walked and was very heavy around the bottom. My auntie told me that Anna had been a prisoner during the Second World War and had been given an experimental sex change. She looked and sounded like a man."

Steve Spencer recalls: "In my last year at Green Lane School, Manningham, I remember Anna having a disagreement with a crossing attendant. I was waiting for the bus on Lumb Lane to take me home to the newly-built Lilycroft estate when Anna appeared in her trademark woollen hat, heavy shopping bag in one hand and in the other a rather strange umbrella with an amusing, carved, and brightly painted parrot's head for an handle! Anna must have been haggling to get across Lumb Lane and the lollipop man' was having none of it until it was safe. They began arguing and Anna swung the umbrella above her head, bringing the beak of the carved parrot squarely down on the poor man's head! He was in too much shock after that to stop Anna, who picked up her bag and crossed to the other side!"