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. JEANiE GOODEY writes: ‘i am hoping you can help my father and me trace someone. her maiden name was Jane Mason, and she would be aged around 50 now.
‘i’ll tell you the story. Jane’s mum, Mavis, and mine, Valerie, were old friends. They first met as young mums in the Fifties and remained close until Mavis died in 1998. They spent a lot of time together.
‘i have happy memories of Mavis, her husband stan and their dog Toes. They used to live in Alfred road, Buckhurst hill, in Essex.
‘At Mavis’s funeral, Mum and Dad were so impressed with the beautiful, peaceful cemetery that they decided to buy two plots there.
‘My dear Mum passed away last year, God rest her soul, and, as it happens, she is buried next to Mavis.
‘We have tried to contact Jane, but to no avail. it is an honour to look after Mavis’s grave as well as Mum’s.
‘But it would be a comfort to Jane, i’m sure, to know that our mothers are side by side again, as they were in life.
‘i’ve attached a lovely photo of Mum and Mavis, taken in the sixties. Mum is the one on the right. should any of your readers be able to contact Jane, or know of her whereabouts, it would be lovely to make contact with her again and reminisce about our childhood and our mums.
‘My dad, Billy Goodey, and i have been meaning to contact you for a while now.
‘it seems the right time has finally come. We do hope that, through your service, we will be able to make contact with Jane again.’ iN OCTOBEr, Colin stokes asked us to help locate three fellow royal Navy Artificer Apprentices s58 Class, with whom he joined the royal Navy in september 1966.
he had tried to trace them t hrough various s ervice organisations without success.
‘We spent more than three years together during training and then went to serve far and wide in ships of the Navy fleet,’ wrote Colin.
‘it has been more than 40 years since we were together, and it would be great if we could meet up at our 50th anniversary reunion in 2016.
‘My photograph shows them in relaxed mood. From left, they are: Jim Beavis, Andy Macdonald and John Linton.
‘On one occasion, the four of us were in the same group for expedition training, involving a weekend trek in scotland from Dalwhinnie, via Glen Feshie, to the Linn of Dee.
‘During the afternoon of the first day, the sky turned dark, the wind got up and it started to snow heavily.
‘Our group opted to shelter in a barn, where we rode out the blizzard, before making our way to an alternative pickup point for the return journey to base. sadly, not all groups took shelter, some suffering frostbite as a result. But they were rescued and all fully recovered. A frightening experience for us all!’
Well, we have produced one of the three. Jim Beavis emailed, and we put the two old mates back in touch.
Colin says: ‘We’ve been talking on the phone, catching up on the missed years, and will meet up at our forthcoming reunion. Many thanks!’