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 WAS close friends with four girls at St Joan of Arc Convent Grammar School in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire,’ writes Wendy Bruley, nee Tucker.
‘I have kept in contact with three of them — Kate Nolan, Pat Murray and Mary McCarthy — and we’ve met up for wonderful reunions.
‘We’d love to find Marion Rooney to make our group of friends complete.
‘ Marion was born in September 1954 and, like me, lived in Watford.
‘She went to Holy Rood Junior School and had a younger brother, Stephen.
‘I last saw her in 1981 when I was pregnant — I was unaware that I was having twins until four days before the birth! I was told Marion may have moved to Ireland. I had a son a few years after my girls and helped my husband with his business until he died in 1996.
‘I went back to work at St Joan of Arc for eight years, before moving to the finance department in West Herts College, Watford. I am now 64 and still live locally.’ DID you train as a student nurse at St John’s Hospital in Lewisham, South-East London, 60 years ago?
Anna Thomas is searching for her fellow trainees. She has kept in touch with two of the 12 students, Ann Coe and Elaine Symons.
She’s keen to find any of the others — Pauline Patterson, Maeve Carroll, Mary Ruane, Eileen McFadden, Sally Bristow, Deirdre McHugh, Ghislaine Sudon, Valerie Horley and Lavinia Watts.
‘ We lived in the nurses’ home and, at the end of the day’s duties, we’d gather in the sitting room to talk about our experiences,’ wrote Anna, now 80, from Eltham, South East London.
‘ Patients remained in hospital for longer in those days, which gave us a greater understanding of their needs and created a good nursepatient relationship.
‘ We socialised together, going to dances and West End shows, for which we were given free tickets.’ We have been contacted by Ella Pearson, of Wilmington in Kent, who had been sent a clipping of the column by a friend who knew that she had trained at St John’s Hospital in the Forties, some years before Anna.
‘I would love to get in touch with Anna to find out how the hospital fared in the post-war years,’ writes Ella.
They have arranged to meet for afternoon tea and a chat about their nursing careers. The search for Anna’s fellow student nurses continues . . .