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 AM looking for my longlost friend Andrew Charles Marshall,’ writes business executive David Page, of Benfleet, Essex.
‘ We met at the private Brentwood School in Essex in 1972.
‘He was a year older than me and became not only a great friend, but also a mentor. One of the many things we had in common was squash, and we would practise together and played many matches.
‘He spent long weekends with my family, and during the school holidays I travelled with him to see his parents, Bruce and Mary, in Malawi in South-Eastern Africa.
‘Bruce worked for a firm of architects called Norman & Dawbarn. Andrew’s sister, Nicola, went to the Arts Educational School in Tring, Hertfordshire.
‘After leaving school, we kept in touch for a number of years and then lost contact. The last time I heard from Andrew, he was living in Zurich and running a squash club. I believe he got married and wonder if he has children.
‘He would be 55 or 56. I’d love to meet up again.’ THREE cousins who grew up together have been reunited.
Sandra Duxbury, nee Ames, of Upminster, Greater London, wrote: ‘ My cousin, Linda Ames, was born in December 1944 and I was born 13 days later.
‘ Her sister Marion is a couple of years older. We grew up in Hackney, East London, and went to Gayhurst Road Infants and Junior School.
‘Their dad, Leslie, and my dad, Bill, were brothers. My father ran a family upholstery business, while Leslie owned a club in the West End.
‘In the Fifties, Leslie and his wife divorced and our lives took different paths. I last saw my cousins at Leslie’s funeral in 1976. Marion married and moved to New Zealand, while Linda married and had three children.’
Our sleuth Jeff Pinson traced the cousins: Linda is living in Brighton and Marion in New Zealand.
Sandra and Linda have now met up. And we have heard from Sandra’s old school chum Anne Billinton, who says: ‘ We walked to school together and played hopscotch, skipping and did handstands against walls.’
A delighted Sandra replies: ‘I remember Anne well and will certainly contact her!’