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. ‘I FOUND a photo of my class at Gayhurst Road Primary, Hackney, East London, in 1930,’ writes Les Wynn.
‘My late wife, Violet Lomas, was my fellow pupil. We wed in 1944, had a son and daughter, and were married for nearly 73 years.
‘The names of my school pals still come to mind: Ron Millot, Jack Penfold and his twin Maisie, Leslie Rumsey, Donald Phillips, Tommy Hill, Ronnie Colman, Stan Ashton and Bertie Hunt. Our teacher was Mrs Miller. After leaving school at 14 I was apprenticed to a City printer.
‘During the war, aged 18, I joined the Royal Marines and served in the Far East, Belgium, Holland and Germany. After demob, I finished my apprenticeship and in 1953, started a successful printing company.
‘I will be 95 next month, live in Loughton, Essex, and am reasonably fit.
‘I wonder how many of my old Gayhurst classmates are still around? It would be great to catch up.’ FORMER trainee nurses have been reunited 50 years on. Two months ago, 68-yearold Maria Meerstadt, nee Ferbrache, of Maidenhead, Berks, was searching for missing members of her May 1968 cohort of student nurses at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London.
‘The ties are still strong for many of us and we’d love to find our missing colleagues,’ she said. ‘We did six weeks’ training in basic nursing skills before being let loose on the wards.
‘The camaraderie got us through the difficult times and forged lasting friendships. The patients came first and we cared for them in between making beds and emptying bedpans.
‘Some of us were lucky enough to work with eminent doctors such as Sir Roger Bannister, Jack Suchet (father of David and John), Arthur Dickson Wright (father of Clarissa) and J. P. R. Williams, who played rugby for Wales.’
An email arrived from one of the missing nurses, Jenny Jones (now Williams): ‘I live in Australia, but as luck would have it, I was visiting the UK and saw the column.’ She had a mini-reunion with Maria before her return Down Under.