LEFT ON A PEW: Man wants answers to his background
Baby boy was found in a shawl on church pew in 1967
A MAN abandoned as a baby in a church in Fulham 49 years ago is asking if anyone can shed information on his birth family and his background.
Nick Ayres, who lived in Hayes for 14 years, was just a few weeks old when he was discovered on a pew in Our Lady of Dolours Servite Church in 1967.
The grandfather has no details about his biological family and does not know his exact date of birth. He is hoping there are people out there who can shed light on who he is and where he comes from.
He said: “It would be nice if someone knew something about me and where I came from.
“If my birth parents are still alive that would be pretty cool, it would be nice to meet them and see what they’re like.
“I don’t hold any grudge against them it must have been a very difficult thing for them to do.”
Nick was found on a pew at the Fulham Road church on April 10 wrapped in a white shawl.
A Metropolitan Police note dated May 3 1967 said a young woman had been seen carrying a baby and leaving a taxi near the church around 20 minutes earlier. She was never traced. The foundling was taken to Fulham Police Station and then the Violet Melchett Nursery behind Chelsea Register Office.
While there he was nam edd Nicholas as Brown and his date of birth th on his birth th certificatee reads ‘ On or r about thee T hi rdd February y 1967’.
Nick was adopted and took the family name Ayres. His dad, a firefighter, died when he was two from injuries he sustained successfully rescuing five ve children from a blaze in North Kensington, and his mother never kept his background a secret.
Nick said: “This search is like a needle in a haystack, I haveha no idea wherewh I’m from, whowh my birth mothermo is, why I waswa abandoned. “I“don’t feel lostlos but it would be nice to know wherewhe I come from,from if I was from Fulham or aroundarou that area. “Other“O people have a family tree and know about their grandparents and great grandparents.grand It wouldwoul be nice to know where I come from and the historyhistor of my family.”family His mother died in 2001 and it was not until 2005 that Nick started making inquiries to solve his mystery.
He said: “It’s difficult to explain but because I have always known it’s not the most important thing in the world for me.
“But it would be nice for me, my two daughters and granddaughter to know my background.”
After his father died he and his mum moved from North Kensington to Paddington.
There, at 15, he met his wife Mandy. They married in 1993 at Chelsea Register Office and at the time he was unaware that the nursery which cared for him as a baby was just a stone’s throw away – and after a brief stay in Shepherd’s Bush, moved to Hayes where they lived for 14 years.
Then seven years ago they decided to move out of London and he now lives happily in Norfolk.
Nick, who said visiting Our Lady of Dolours Servite Church for the first time a few years ago was an ‘emotional’ experience, added: “If I don’t find anything it won’t change my life, but on the other hand if I do find something or someone maybe it will.”
Anyone with information to help can contact Nick on nickfoundling@gmail.com.