MISSING . . . and FOUND!
THE DAILY MAIL offers you a unique chance to re-establish contact with long-lost relatives and friends. Each week, MONICA PORTER features someone trying to find a missing loved one, as well as a tale of people reunited. This column is produced with voluntary tracing service, Searching For A Memory, run by Gill and John Whitley.
ROSE HEARD writes: ‘This is a photo of my grandparents, Jim and Elsie Prouse, with my mum Irene and her sister Rita, plus three wartime evacuees from London — Joan, Marion and Georgie Lock, whose father was George Lock, a printer.
‘Gran has written on the back and from left to right they are: Joan and Marion, Jim, Georgie, Elsie, Rita and Irene.
‘Gran only wanted to take in two children evacuated during the war, but these three siblings insisted on staying together. They came from Plough Road, Battersea. Mum’s family lived near Bude, North Cornwall, and we think the photo was taken at nearby Duckpool Beach in 1941 or 1942.
‘Mum is wondering if Joan, Marion and Georgie are still alive and would like to make contact with them again.
‘She can’t remember how long the children lived with her family, but says they went to her school and fitted well into the family and that my grandparents treated all the children the same. They lived in a large house, so there was plenty of room for everyone.
‘My grandfather worked at Dene Lodge, Morwenstowe, as an agricultural merchant, selling animal feed and seeds, all his life from the age of 15. He ran the business during the war when the owner’s sons went off to war.
‘Mum thinks the Lock children kept in touch for a while after the war, but as is often the case, correspondence eventually dried up.’
SOME months ago, Michael Cavilla asked for help. ‘We are a group of Army Cadets, now in our 60s and 70s, organising a reunion for 2017 and looking for old members. our group met at 86 Fulham High Street, London from 1958.
‘originally the unit was P Battery, 254 Royal Artillery. It morphed into D Company 1st Cadet Battalion K.R.R.C.
‘We’d particularly like to contact Harry Parker, John James Margiotta, Keith Brooks and Arthur Lupton and any past member keen to meet for a beer and a chat.
‘Many great friendships were formed during those years, with meetings three times a week, camps with the Army doing infantry training, field craft, live firing on the ranges and having a great time away from home.
‘We got up to great pranks and mischief, and the character-building and selfsufficiency training served us well in later life.’
our helpful voluntary family researcher, David Kilby, found two missing members, both living in the South-East of England. And we received this email from the other side of the ‘Pond’: ‘My name is Gordon Moon and my father, who lives in the UK, sent me your article. I was in that Company in the Seventies.
‘I am now a colonel in the U.S. Army. Please send me contact details, as I’d love to re-connect with them.’
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. this column is researched with the aid of Peopletracer (www.peopletracer.co.uk). A small donation will be requested for employing Gill Whitley’s services.