MISSING . . . . . . AND FOUND
THE DAILY MAIL offers the 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. Produced in conjunction with the voluntary tracing service Searching For A Memory, run by Gill Whitley.
WE’VE helped former art college students reunite after 54 years. Peter Barratt was looking for his fellow students from the Technical Illustration Group at Birmingham College of Art. ‘They were a great bunch,’ he wrote. ‘I’d particularly like to make contact with Nigel Pratt. He stayed with me while I was working for Rolls-Royce Aero Engines in Derby, and we had drinks in town on the night I met my future wife, Eileen. Sadly, Nigel and I lost touch. ‘After marrying in 1971, I worked at Marconi Space Systems, Motorola and the Science Research Council in Swindon.’ Thanks to our do yoU remember watching acrobatic dancer edna squire Brown perform with doves at the london Palladium?
This query comes from Kay Murray, 77, who is looking for edna’s son or any other relatives.
edna was a well-known performer in the Thirties and Forties.
‘[she] was sometimes on the same bill as The Crazy Gang, and also appeared in government films teaching the public how to exercise and stay healthy,’ writes Kay.
‘Born in Manchester, researcher Jeff Pinson, we have already reconnected Peter with Nigel, who was still in touch with a few of the she moved to london. after her first husband, an raF officer, was killed in the war, she married eric d. C. Mackay and they had a son.
‘My late mother, ida Want, was also a performer from Manchester.
‘she was a siffleuse, or a professional whistler, and often appeared on the same bill as edna.
‘i am keen to know more about my mother’s stage career and that of her friends.
‘it would be wonderful to be able to share any anecdotes and photos.’ others. Now Peter has been reunited with Philip Hawkins, a steam railway artist in Dawlish, Devon.