Almost 30 per cent of Eastern European migrants coming to Essex set up home in Braintree and Uttlesford, and the two district councils have now employed migrant community development officers to help immigrants settle. JULIA TAYLOR spoke to members of the 1,690-strong Eastern European community in the area.

Businessman Geoff Wood opened supermarket the Polish Pantry four months ago, and he said business has been going well. He gets all his supplies direct from Poland through a distributor in London.

Mr Wood said: "It's mostly Eastern European customers, but we get an awful lot of English people as well. It's early days yet, but we're doing quite well. It's steadily growing.

"The Eastern European customers all seem very pleased with it."

Mr Wood said he has noticed a change in the immigrants who are settling in the area. "Originally it was mainly the younger age bracket, but now families are coming here, looking to stay for life."

The Polish Pantry has just started to stock Braintree.Pl a Polish-language magazine for people living in Braintree.

Fortnightly Braintree.Pl is run by Tomasz Bieniek and his friends, after they set up a forum at www.braintreepl.vdd.pl. The magazine will be available at the Polish Pantry, for an optional donation.

Mr Bieniek, 21, lives in Braintree and works at a factory in Witham. He arrived at Stansted airport 18 months ago and was met by a friend already living in Braintree, which is how he too ended up living in the district.

He said: "I finished school and decided to do something else. I wanted to go to university, but I couldn't afford it. For me, the UK has opportunities for young people which we don't have in Poland.

"I think people come to Braintree because it is close to London and Stansted, and there are lots of other people from Poland who have come over. Maybe because Essex is the richest county in the UK."

After working all day, Mr Bieniek and his friends put together Braintree.Pl.

"It is a hobby for a couple of us," he said. "We want to help people and make the Polish community bigger, because there are lots of Polish people in Braintree."

The Polish Roman Catholic Community, a charity based in Ipswich, has just started running Polish-language masses once a month at Our Lady Queen of Peace on The Avenue in Braintree.

Priest Krzysztof Kita said that people find comfort in hearing mass in their own language, can understand sermons and are able to make confessions in Polish. Most people in Poland are Catholic, and the services in Braintree are popular, with around 100 people attending each month.

Rev Kita also makes visits to the sick in the area. He said: "I think the main reason Polish people have moved to Braintree is because it is near to Stansted, and some people work at the airport, for example as bus drivers. The Polish community has been here since after the Second World War, but most of the Polish people now are newly arrived."