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 keen to get in touch with people I knew in my teens,’ writes Roger Wolens. ‘We all lived in Arley, a mining village near Nuneaton.
‘I’ve tracked down former Warwickshire county cricketer Albert Wright. Another sportsman was Derek Finch, a West Bromwich Albion player. I have a team photo showing him sitting next to Sir Bobby Robson.
‘Other friends included the Whale brothers, Betty Court, Marian Baxter, Jean Benn, Alan Reynolds, Christine Harvey, Fred Chester and David Humphries. I would love to hear from them.
‘I lost contact with the old crowd when I became a reporter in Coventry, then editor of the Island Sun in the Channel Islands and deputy editor of the Iberian Daily Sun in Spain, before returning to the UK to work in PR and marketing.
‘Now in my 70s, I run the Green Organisation, a nonprofit group promoting environmental best practice, and live near Exeter in Devon.’
A FATHER and son have been reunited.
In July, Mike Taylor was looking for Bill and Helen Marshall, friends of his mother’s sister Rita. Mike hoped they could shed some light on his parents’ early lives of which he knew little.
‘My mum was Norma White, born in 1923 in Lambeth, South London. Her sister Rita was born in 1932.
‘Rita lived with our family in Aldershot in the Fifties, where she became friends with Helen and Bill Marshall, who was serving in the Parachute Regiment.
‘Mum married my father, Ernest Withers, a policeman, in 1947 and I was born the following year. But in 1950 my parents divorced.
‘My mother then married Robert Taylor. They had three sons, but also split up.
‘ Mum struggled to look after four boys on her own, so in 1958, we were put into children’s homes in Hampshire. Later she told me about my biological father. I changed my surname to Taylor in 1963 before I joined the Royal Navy.’
Our researcher Jeff Pinson tracked down Mike’s biological father, now aged 97 and living in Broadstairs, Kent.
‘ How mind- boggling!’ emailed Mike. ‘We’ve spoken by phone and I am going to visit him next weekend. I hope to fill in a lot of gaps. There are two half- sisters I never knew I had.
‘This has been a whirlwind. I’m ecstatic about this excellent result.’