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. LINDA SWAN, nee Bradley, writes: ‘I wonder if you might be able to track down my school friend Jillian Carver.
‘We met when we started at St Anne C of E school in Old Swan, Liverpool, 70 years ago. We were just starting Infants and became good pals.
‘We remained so for many years. But when we sat exams for a scholarship, our paths went in different directions.
‘Jillian passed and went on to Holly Lodge grammar school, from where she went on to further education.
‘I stayed on at St Anne and was then offered a place at a commercial college, where I took exams in shorthand and typing.
‘I had a career in office and secretarial work right up to retiring at 60.
‘I have only one photo of Jillian, with a group of us at Colomendy summer camp in Denbighshire, North Wales, in 1951.
‘She was a great source of comfort to me during the week we spent there as I was homesick.
‘I am 76 and now live in St Helens, Merseyside. I have two grown-up children and called my daughter Jillian after the dear friend I never forgot.
‘It would be lovely if we could get in touch and meet after so long.’
IN JULY, Jo Horton wrote: ‘My father, Douglas Harold Beresford, was with Bomber Command Pathfinders and was killed, aged 21, on a bombing raid in 1944.
‘I never knew him, as my mum was pregnant with me when he died.
‘I had contact with my paternal grandparents in Sheffield when growing up, but it would be good to find someone who knew my father apart from family. Anyone who served with him would now be in their 90s.
‘I’m 72 and retired after a career in the civil service. I live in Newport, Shropshire.
‘Mum died five years ago. She told me my father’s name is on a war memorial in Sheffield and the Runnymede Memorial. I believe he had been a coal mine electrician.’
Ace researcher Jeff Pinson located the operations record book containing the names of the crew who served with Jo’s father on their last flight and the Commonwealth war grave entry. He also tracked down the son of Douglas’s best friend.
Mail reader Cal O’Callaghan provided a DVD of the Beresford family history, given to him by his friend Charles Beresford, and Linda Ibrom, researcher for the Aircrew Remembered website, is also on the case.
‘Thank you for all the snippets of information, most of which are new to me,’ says Jo.
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.