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 DAVE DIBB, 68, of Taunton in Somerset needs help reuniting with a friend he lost contact more than 40 years ago. ‘I became friendly with Paul Lawday as schoolboys, when we starting playing football together for Sneyd Park Junior team in Bristol,’ Dave writes. ‘We represented our team when we were awarded the Sporting Team of the Year Award in 1970. We were at two different grammar schools in Bristol, so we also played against each other for our respective sides. We became close friends and socialised together but sadly, we lost contact in the late 1970s. ‘Coincidentally, when I moved house not long ago, I came across a Beatles LP with Paul’s handwritten name on it, so it’s about time I returned it to him!
THIS summer, widowed Margaret ‘Madge’ Baines, 85, who lives near Poole in Dorset, asked us to trace Iris Hanson. In the late 1950s and early 1960s they shared a flat in Maida Vale, West London. Madge told us: ‘We’d both left home and moved to the capital to work. We got on well and spent much of our spare time together, going to the cinema, West End shows and Regent’s Park for picnics. Or we stayed in, teaching ourselves to cook and playing rock ’n’ roll records. ‘Then I met Charles, and we married in 1963, so I moved from Maida Vale. Iris and I kept in touch for a while, but a missing loved one and a tale of people reunited. Produced in conjunction with the voluntary tracing service Searching For A Memory, run by Gill Whitley.
‘I enjoyed a long and successful career in primary school education and now work as a hospitality steward at Somerset County Cricket Club.
I would really like to be able to meet up with Paul again so that we can discuss what’s happened to us over the past four decades or so.’ in 1965 we left London. When I next tried to contact Iris, she’d disappeared. I’d love to find her again to relive our carefree youth.’
And so she has! The now Iris Blanchard’s daughter Tracey is an avid reader of this column and emails: ‘My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I read the story about my mum. I rang her up right away and she was bowled over. She and my stepdad now live in Spain, but they’ll be visiting the UK soon so a reunion is on the cards.’ including a phone number. All communications answered as soon as possible. A small donation is requested for employing Gill Whitley’s services. this column is researched with the aid of 192.com.