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.
HERE is an unusual request from Marguerite Merchent, of Bayswater, West London.
A few years ago, she bought a job lot of 15 Enid Blyton books in a charity shop, fell in love with them and started a collection.
‘Several months ago, I visited the Oxfam shop in Notting Hill Gate, West London, looking for Enid Blyton books,’ she writes.
‘Another customer, a quiet, gracious man, told me he had boxes of her books from the Fifties at his home in France. He offered to let me have them. A dream come true!
‘I was living in temporary accommodation, so I gave him the address of a friend to use as a point of contact. Sadly, the friend had a stroke and died soon afterwards. Can anyone identify this mystery man?’
According to Marguerite, he is of medium height and build, with a fair complexion and aged in his 60s. OLD friends who used to play football together as youngsters, and got up to all sorts of high jinks, are looking forward to a reunion.
Three months ago, Simon Debell wrote: ‘I am trying to trace Ron Butler, who was a good friend of my father, Frank Debell.
‘My dad is 78 and has been diagnosed with dementia, so it would be wonderful if they could meet up again before his memory gets worse.
‘I am 53 and met Ron when I was a child. I believe he had ginger hair and a beard. He worked for the ambulance service and lived in Gillingham, Kent.
‘Ron drove a Wolseley car with the letters LUV on the registration plate, which still makes my Dad smile.
‘I’ve heard stories of the things Dad and Ron got up to, such as the time they drove the Wolseley 70mph downhill on the A2 on the way to Margate.
‘They played football for the Liquorice Allsorts team — so named because they wore different coloured shirts. They lost most of the games they played as they could never work out who to pass the ball to!
‘Dad’s face would light up if he could meet Ron again. And if anyone else remembers Dad from those longgone days, I’d love them to get in touch.’
When Ron saw the column, he emailed: ‘It would be wonderful if I could meet Frank again.’
We also heard from Michael Germany: ‘I knew Frank, his brother Michael and sister Francis. We were great friends.
‘Ron is my stepbrother and we used to live together in Gillingham. I would help Frank and his father at their market stall on Saturdays.
‘It would be lovely to get in touch to reminisce.’