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 1959, I was working on the Winchester Castle, a ship of the Union-Castle Line, sailing from southampton to south Africa,’ writes Pete Wharton, of Bitterne, southampton.
‘A few of us formed a band and used to play on the ship’s afterdeck in the evening. the regular band didn’t like it because the passengers would come and listen to us.
‘some of our homemade recordings — on a Grundig reel-to-reel tape deck — did the rounds for years.
‘My photo shows us playing on deck. I’d love to know what happened to the rest of the band. I’m on the left, on lead guitar.
‘terry Allcock is on the red-hot tea chest bass in the middle (he was the singer and came from Portsmouth); the chap on bass guitar on the right was from surrey (I think he became a writer); and the other two came from Portsmouth, the one playing the trumpet was going to join the Marines, as his father was an officer.
‘the Winchester Castle’s return trip took six weeks. I was a boy rating in the restaurant for two trips before working on other ships, including the old Queen Mary. I was at sea for five years and left when I met my wife, sandra.
‘I’m retired now and still play guitar — though not in public!’
BACK in 2015, Alan Bissell was looking for members of the former double decker Club (DDC), to arrange a 50th anniversary reunion.
he wrote: ‘the DDC was based in twickenham, and three of its members owned a former London transport red double-decker bus.
‘happily, the bus (RTL 1050) is still in existence and will be the star of the reunion.
‘the club provided cheap camping holidays, departing from twickenham’s rising sun pub for destinations across europe, including Germany, denmark, France, Luxembourg, spain and switzerland. We hope your column will find former friends and aficionados of London’s iconic red double decker.’ several members made contact, including Pauline Ogley, richard Bowskill and Colin Malyon, who told us: ‘I went on the trip in the photo and made the umbrella shown in it. We left the UK after england won the World Cup, went through France into Luxembourg, on to Germany and back home via Paris.’
now, two years on, Clive Bates writes: ‘I was a member of the DDC and went on the trip in the photo. I’m about to meet ten friends who haven’t seen each other for 50 years, and three were on the trip with me.
‘It would be great to contact Alan Bissell and other DCC members.’
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.