MISSING . . . and FOUND!
THE DAILY MAIL offers readers a unique opportunity to re-establish contact with long-lost relatives and friends. Each week, MONICA PORTER features the story of someone trying to find a missing loved one, as well as a tale of people reunited. This column is produced in conjunction with the voluntary tracing service, Searching For A Memory, run by Gill and John Whitley. ‘I CAME across this photo of local team Durdham Rangers the other day and wondered if you might be able to help,’ writes Gerald Bennett. ‘It was taken in 1963 on Durdham Downs, Bristol.
‘The team was started a few years earlier by lads from Westbury Park and they played in matches on Saturdays in the Downs League, which is still thriving.
‘Our team included Robert Randall, Mike Tandy, Lee Parker, Tony Badger, Peter Probyn, George Bawn, Donald Furze, Barry Jones, Richard Lay and Paddy Punchard.
‘I’d love to trace them, or any others who played with us, and find out how they have fared. We would all be aged 69 to 73.
‘The matches were friendly, but of a good standard, with some lads having trials with Bristol Rovers and City. Players tended to drop out when they went off to university or full-time work.
‘I studied physics in Rugby at a college that later became part of Coventry University, then got my postgraduate certificate in education at Huddersfield College of Education. I retired ten years ago after a teaching career.
‘The Sixties was a great time to be growing up — it was safe, with lots of friends in the community and football, Scouts and youth clubs for entertainment.’ AFTER a gap of almost four decades, June Crowley, nee Steed, has been reunited with her old friend and neighbour, Lois Merriweather (now Robertson).
As teenagers, they lived in the same square in the Bayswater area of London, near Hyde Park, and have happy memories of life in the capital in the Seventies.
‘I know there were major economic and political problems at the time with constant strikes and social unrest,’ says June.
‘But we were teenagers and what did we care? All we thought about were boys and clothes and Top Of The Pops. Life was great.
‘Lois and I would meet in the park after school, smoke a few sneaky Silk Cuts and maybe go to The Black Lion pub on Bayswater Road, where the local lads hung out, and drink cider.
‘Saturday nights we’d hop on a bus and go into the West End to a cinema or disco.’ After finishing school, the girls went to different universities, and when Lois’s family moved away to Kent, contact was lost.
So this weekly column was delighted to be able to help them renew their friendship.
By chance, June and Lois now live not too far away from each other in South London and have already had a jolly time meeting up.
‘I’m thrilled! Thank you!’ says June.