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.
‘ IN 1966, a group of 15-year-old boys formed c, D & e Squads of the Junior Tradesmen Regiment, Army catering corps (Acc),’ writes Dave Rushton, from Bordon, Hampshire.
‘After three years’ training, we were scattered to various units of the Army.
‘April marks the 50th anniversary of our passing out. We’ve traced some members, but many have not been seen since.
‘We’re planning a reunion in Aldershot and hope to find as many old friends as possible. My photo shows a group of us, resplendent in our whites. The missing include “Nutty” Almond, Mike Anderson, peter Davey, chris Davis, Joe Denton, ed Hankin, Jim leary, peter Meredith, peter Marshall, “curly” Metcalfe, “Spud” Murphy, Mick page, Ken Shaw and Bill Thomas.
‘ I served in catterick, Northern Ireland, cyprus, Aldershot and even the Falklands before leaving the Army in 1991 to manage a pub in london. I’m now retired.’ A couple of months ago, 75-year- old James Young, from Wandsworth, South london, was in search of an old friend called Felicity Walker-Halstead.
‘Felicity used to live near me in Wimbledon park, but moved away many years ago, and I’d love to say hello and have a catch-up.
‘She was born in around 1948. We knew each other for 20 years — between 1975 and 1995. She used to have a word processing business.
‘In our spare time, we would play Scrabble together, often with our mutual friend Michaela Stevens, who died in 1994. Felicity and I lost touch when she moved to Wales to live near her father.
‘ While Felicity lived in london, she was involved with a local charity, Share community. She was a forthright character and once went to a local pub intent on throwing water over a man she felt had done something wrong — and did it, too!
‘Nowadays, I keep busy by playing bridge and singing in a choir. It would be lovely to see Felicity again and find out how she’s doing.’
unfortunately, this story has a sad ending. Three of our experienced researchers — Jeff pinson, David Kilby and Rosemary pitt — all discovered Felicity died in 2001 in Sutton, Surrey.
‘ Shocked by this news,’ emails James. ‘ I’ll always think of her with good memories. Thank you for putting the piece in the paper.’