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.
Maureen Chapman writes: ‘In 1957, the Concorde Club was opened in a room at the side of the Bassett hotel in Southampton.
‘It was a jazz club run by Cole Mathieson, a big jazz fan, helped by his school friend Gordon ricketts.
‘ Gordon emigrated to australia i n about 1963. ronnie Scott played at the club on October 2, 1959.
My photograph, taken that night, shows (left to right): Gordon ricketts, Denny nash, ronnie Scott, roy White and Cole Mathieson.
‘ The club moved to i ts present venue in Stoneham Lane, eastleigh, in 1970.
‘Cole and Gordon kept in touch and contact was made when he lived in Brisbane, australia, in the eighties.
‘Gordon came to england in the nineties to visit his parents, who lived in the new Forest, and visited the club.
‘But despite inquiries being made in australia, it’s not been possible to contact him since. We think that at one time he had connections with a jazz club in Brisbane and maybe i n Sydney. Many musicians and other entertainers have appeared at the club since 1957, some of whom have become household names.
‘It is believed that the Concorde Club — of which I’m the official archivist — is the longest-running jazz club under the same ownership in the world.
‘ronnie Scott played the club many times between 1959 and 1989, before opening his own club in Gerrard Street, London.
‘We’d very much like to contact Gordon, as well as any of the many people who helped the club in its early days, so they can join us in 2017 to celebrate our Diamond Jubilee.’
In November, eliana hadjisavvas, a PHD student in modern history at Birmingham university, asked us to help with her fascinating research on the immigration of holocaust survivors to the British Mandate of palestine at the end of World War II and their subsequent internment in British-run camps in colonial Cyprus from 1946 to 1949.
‘ I’m keen to contact any British former servicemen based in palestine or Cyprus during this time,’ she told us.
‘at the end of the war, thousands of visa-less Jewish refugees attempted to enter palestine by embarking on illegal voyages from europe across the Mediterranean.
‘Most ships were intercepted by British forces, with the refugees detained in 12 internment camps in Cyprus. More than 52,000 refugees passed through Cyprus until the camps’ dissolution in 1949.’
There was an astonishing response. Twelve British former servicemen based in palestine or Cyprus at that time got in touch. all have personal stories, and some even have documentary evidence. One of the most interesting emails came from Ted Davis, a Jewish airman then based in nicosia: ‘I felt a sense of outrage at what the British were doing to the holocaust survivors, solely to appease the arabs.
‘as a member of the RAF, my loyalties were to King and Country, but I was in a confused state. realising my predicament, the authorities decided in December 1946 that, i n common with all Jewish servicemen, I should be moved out of Cyprus and transferred to egypt.’
Missing and Found is pleased, once again, to throw a little light on our common history.
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.