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.
BOB CHALMERS writes: ‘Back in the Sixties, Portsmouth Dockyard was the city’s largest employer.
‘ Three times a year, hundreds of youngsters who had left school at 15 started there as apprentice fitters, turners, electricians and shipwrights.
‘I was in the September 1964 entry, a shipwright apprentice at Flathouse Apprentice Training Centre with 30 others.
‘ In the second year of training, we were given the job of building the dockyard’s 1965 entry for the Southsea Carnival, which was Old Mother Hubbard’s Shoe (pictured above).
‘My photo shows most of the apprentices in my entry, along with a few from other trades who had a hand in building the float.
‘I’m in contact with John Bramble, Geoff Hillier and John Summerfield, but would like to find the rest and have a big reunion.
‘The names I remember from those days are Bob Piper, Barry Pickering, Kelvin Sims, Chris Wyatt, Tony Davies, John Copper, Terry O’Hagan, Stuart Lukey, Ed Salvage, Ian Privet, Mick Tucker and John Miller.’
JOHN TESTER, of Norwich, has been looking for his National Service buddy.
‘ I lost touch with Dave Watts many years ago,’ he wrote. ‘ We were friends during our National Service, 1958 to 1960, when we were stationed at RAF Melksham in Wiltshire.
‘Dave was in the Medical Corps. We did not share the same billet, because he had to live in medical quarters, but we spent a lot of time together exploring the countryside.
‘I was able to go home most weekends to Frome, Somerset, while Dave returned to his family home in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
‘ He’d get an occasional hair-raising lift there on the back of the scooter of our friend, Gerry Grant.
‘After demobilisation, Dave and I moved to London to work in the civil service. We kept in touch for a while, but after we both married, we lost touch some time in the early Sixties. ‘In the photograph of my wedding, Dave is pictured second from the left in the middle row.’ Unfortunately, we have now discovered that Dave passed away a few years ago. Peter Webb emails: ‘I knew Dave from the Sixties until his death in 2014. I have written a letter to John and sent a copy of the column to Dave’s widow.’ A saddened John says: ‘It is such a shame I did not try to find Dave earlier. I called Peter and we had an interesting talk about Dave. ‘I have also heard from Tony Jardine, who was stationed at RAF Melksham then.’
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. A small donation will be requested for employing Gill Whitley’s services.