And FOUND!
LAST July, Barrie Pawson, of York, wrote: ‘I’ve been wondering about the whereabouts of a friend I made in the Fifties while we were in the Scouts.
‘his name is Thorpe Walker and he was on an exchange visit from Ireland. Afterwards, we wrote to each other and I remember he lived on Avonbeg Street in Belfast.
‘I’ve tried to find him but without success. I still have a letter from him in which he wrote that he had bought a secondhand motorbike and was planning to tour england the following year.
‘I was in the Scouts Peewit Patrol at Scarborough until my family moved to York in 1952. There I attended Nunthorpe Grammar School until I left in 1955 to become an apprentice locomotive fitter at the York Motive Power Depot (50A), now the National Railway Museum.
‘There followed time in the civil engineers department, and I finished my career doing audit work for the British Railways Board. I retired early in 1993 and am now 77 years old.’
Alas, we received this message from Lorna Walker: ‘I’m writing in response to Barrie Pawson’s search for Thorpe Walker, who was my father, now sadly deceased.
‘I’d very much like to write to Barrie. Can you please put us in touch?’
Too late for a reunion between the former Scouting friends, but a sense of closure, at least, for Barrie.
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.