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.
THE hunt for an old school pal is under way. ‘I’ve been trying to locate a buddy from primary school days, without any success,’ writes Robin Richard Grundy, of Sydney, Australia.
‘My family lived in Kenya from the Fifties until independence in 1963. From 1959 to 1963, I attended Kilimani Primary School in Nairobi.
‘Twenty years ago, I began looking for old classmates and have found four, yet Robert Sidney has eluded me. I’m sure his family also returned to Britain at independence.
‘ During the Malayan uprising, my father, who was in the Army, disembarked in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), where my mother was working for the Foreign Office.
‘His regiment was on its way back to the UK, but after a whirlwind romance, he resigned from the Forces and moved with my mother to Kenya. My father became a teacher and we lived in various small towns before ending up in Nairobi.
‘Robert was the Mr Popular of our class and the missing link of those of us who have been reunited.
‘I moved to Australia in 1980 for a short visit and stayed. I am a semi-retired accountant and, like Robert, I am 64.’ BARRY PICKUP, of Chorley, Lancashire, hoped to contact an old school friend he hadn’t seen for more than 50 years.
‘His name is Alan Howarth and he lived in Lostock Hall, near Preston,’ wrote Barry.
‘We were boarders at Hutton Grammar School from 1952 to 1958. The last I heard he was studying at the London School of Economics.
‘My picture was taken at my 21st birthday party in 1962 in Leyland, Lancashire.
‘Alan is far left and I am on the right, holding a tankard. Alan often visited me at my home in Leyland until he moved to London and I got married.’
Sadly, Alan’s daughter, Allie Howarth-Slade, informed us that her father passed away ten years ago. ‘I would be glad to answer any questions Barry has,’ she says.
Happier news comes from Alicia Pearson: ‘I am one of the girls in the photo and remember Barry’s 21st birthday party very well.
‘I was then Alicia Simpson and I was there with my friend, Christine Brierley, who is also in the picture.
‘ It would be good to reminisce about those days.’