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. BARRY Pickup, of Chorley, Lancashire, is trying to reach a school friend he hasn’t seen for 50 years.
‘ His name is Alan Howarth and his used to live in Lostock Hall, Preston,’ writes Barry.
‘ We were boarders at Hutton Grammar School between 1952 and 1958. The last I heard he was studying at the London School of Economics. He may be living in London or have returned to Lancashire.
‘This picture was taken at my 21st birthday party in 1962 in Leyland. Alan is on the left and I am second from the right, trying to look sophisticated.
‘During our school years, Alan often visited my parents’ home in Leyland because he came from a single-parent family and often his father would not be home. We spent many happy times together until Alan moved to London and I got married.
‘ On leaving school, I joined my father’s business, manufacturing suits. The company was sold in the early Sixties.
‘I worked for Rank Xerox before setting up a business negotiating commercial grants for companies such as Siemens.
‘I’ve been married and divorced twice, have four children and two grandchildren and am a happy 75-year-old singleton.
‘I enjoy walking, travelling, food and wine.’ BACK in the Sixties and Seventies, Stan Rollings and James Johnstone grew up together in the Wandsworth area of South London and were best friends at school.
‘We were academic and hardworking,’ says Stan. ‘But that doesn’t mean we didn’t know how to have fun. We’d go off on massive cycling adventures, sometimes as far as Brighton and Chichester.
‘We also organised card games with our group of “brainy” friends, with bridge a particular favourite.
‘We were awkward with girls, but eventually were able to manage that side of life, too!’
After leaving school the pair saw much less of each other as they went their separate ways, with Stan going off to university in Scotland and getting a job in the civil service, and James embarking on a career in medical research.
‘We lost touch in the late Seventies, when we were moving around a fair bit,’ says Stan.
‘I always regretted that, but back in the days before the internet and, of course, your column, it was difficult to track down an old friend!’
But times have changed, dear readers! It is much easier to reunite with old buddies . . . especially once we put our Missing and Found sleuths to work.
Following Stan’s request, we found James ( still cycling and playing bridge) living near Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The pals have met for an overdue chinwag.