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. ‘ MY OLD friend John McCutcheon and I moved to South Africa in 1970,’ writes John Matthews.
‘ Five years later, John suggested I join him on an expedition from Johannesburg to Britain, which would take three-and-a-half months across Africa. There would be a group of 18 of us.
‘ The trip was run by a company called Encounter Overland. Our guide and driver, Bill Wallace, had the skills required to lead a group across Africa and maintain the old Bedford three-ton Army truck.
‘We left Johannesburg on July 22 and reached London on November 12, having driven 13,123 miles across Africa, digging, pushing and using mats to get the truck out of mud-holes.
‘We had a rota for shopping, cooking and being on night watch for wild animals and strangers. Anything not nailed down had a habit of simply disappearing!
‘We took a flight around Victoria Falls, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, saw flamingos in Kenyan lakes and wild elephants gambolling in the sea, and crossed the Sahara.
‘Some who shared the epic journey include Neil and Chris Robinson, Martin Hobday, Pete Worthington, Pam Eaton, Rudi Schmidt, Neil Wilkinson, Di Quarmby, Alison Worthington, Jenny Thornton and John Dickson.
‘John and I have lost track of our fellow travellers and would love to contact them.’ A MUSICAL reunion is on the cards for Tom Terry, who now lives in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
‘In the early Sixties I played lead guitar in a four-piece group called the Toledos,’ he wrote.
‘The photo shows John Needham (bass guitar), Brian Epsom ( rhythm guitar), Martin Booth on drums and me. Smithfield. Our manager got
‘We went to William Penn us gigs, with a view to going Comprehensive in Dulwich, to Hamburg like The Beatles, South-East London. Playing but nothing came of it. tunes by The Shadows, The One gig was at the 2i’s Ventures and other pop artists, coffee bar in Soho, made we performed in pubs famous by Tommy Steele and and at weddings, and Cliff Richard. supported Screaming Lord ‘The group broke up in 1963. Sutch and the Savages, and I’d love to get together again Brian Poole and the Tremeloes with my old band-mates.’ at the Savoy in Catford There’s good news. and the Pavilion Ballroom in ‘ Researcher Jeff Pinson Gillingham, Kent. worked tirelessly to find the
‘All of us had day jobs: I was missing members,’ says Tom. a clerk for W. Weddel & Co., ‘We’ve exchanged emails and meat importers in London’s plan to meet soon.’
IF there is someone you would like to trace, write to Gill Whitley, 1 Newbrook house, New hall Lane, Preston, Pr1 5Pe, enclosing an SAe, or send an email to monica.porter@dailymail. co.uk — including a contact phone number. All communications will be answered as soon as possible. this column is researched with the aid of Peopletracer (www.peopletracer.co.uk). A small donation will be requested for employing Gill Whitley’s services.