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. ‘I’M LOOKING for my cycle racing friends from the Fifties and Sixties,’ writes Brian Ward, of Meopham, Kent.
‘In 1952, while at Shooter’s Hill Grammar School, I founded the Metro Cycle Racing Club. We held weekly meetings in a cellar under the Meridian cycle shop next to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
‘Most evenings we went on training rides covering 30 to 60 miles in the Kent countryside. At weekends, we entered a team in road races and regularly had three riders finish in the first ten.
‘Paper rounds and odd jobs provided us teenagers with the money to buy the bicycles that gave us adventure and comradeship.
‘On Sundays, we’d go on 100-mile training rides to Hastings, Margate and Brighton, followed by an evening at a jazz club at th e Shakespeare Hotel in Woolwich.
‘ National Service, then marriages and careers contributed to many of us losing contact. We are now all in our 70s and 80s and I’d love to rekindle those old friendships.
‘Four of us are in touch — Brian Redfern, Kenny Jacobs, Barrie Crowe and myself.
‘ We’d like to trace Joe James (who raced with us in Ghent, Belgium, in 1958 — remember the Cafe Den Engel?), Albert Hayes, Tom Sansom, David Jenkins, Peter Russell and Vernon Williams.’ LAST year, Ian Weir was searching for his old friend Colin Stevenson.
‘We were schoolmates at Whitehill Senior Secondary School in Dennistoun, Glasgow,’ wrote Ian.
‘We left at 15 and completed our training as apprentice engineers at the same factory in Bridgeton.
‘Later, we joined 1090 Sqn Air Training Corps (ATC) and spent seven happy years as cadets going through the ranks.
‘Colin, my fiancee Annis and I and were always together, and when Annis and I got married, Colin helped decorate our first home.
‘In 1960, I joined the RAF and qualified as a navigator on Shackleton aircraft of Coastal Command. Colin joined the RAF as an air signaller.
‘I was posted to 203 Sqn at RAF Ballykelly in Northern Ireland and, in late 1964, I was sent to support the Far East Air Force — where I was delighted to find that Colin was based at RAF Changi in Singapore.
‘But when I was posted to Malta, we lost touch.’ A few months ago, we published this message from Carol Stevenson: ‘I am married to Colin’s brother Eric, and we want to let Ian Weir know that Colin passed away in Australia in 1994. Fortunately, we were able to see him in Sydney before he died.’ But there is further news. Hugh Prior, an old RAF friend of Ian and Colin, has emailed from his home in Georgia in the U.S. after reading the column. He remembers both men well and has a photo showing Colin at RAF Changi, which he’d like to send to Carol and Eric.
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.