From:
Observer issue 9
October 2008
I asked for old pals -
and found family
by Elizabeth Reeve
When
Fred Sampford enlisted
the help of the Observer to find a group of Bishop's Stortford friends
from
decades ago, he had no idea it would lead to him discovering his own
family's
history.
Mr Sampford, 86, was adopted when he was just two weeks old and knew
nothing
about his biological family until a reader contacted him after
seeing his
appeal on our Nostalgia page in June.
"’It's absolutely amazing", said Mr Sampford, of The
Hyde, Clavering, who
retained his biological surname. "All this is just wonderful. You've opened up
a new world for me and I can't thank you enough."
Emily Glasscock - previously a Sampford herself - a cousin in her 90s
from
Elsenham, saw our story and phoned another cousin in Grays, Essex.
’She wrote
to me and I've been in contact with them’, said a delighted
Mr
Sampford.
Among the things he
has found out so far is that he had two brothers, although
both have sadly passed away, and that the family has been traced back
to 1740. Several of the
friends in the original photo - the group used to meet up when
they were in their late teens or early 20s and go on bus trips to the
coast or
on the train to Rye House Stadium - have now got in touch.
One of those in the
picture, Sylvia Judd, now Jane Bethune, wrote to us from
her home in San Diego,
California.
Would you
believe I have been thinking of writing a letter to the paper and
asking if the editor would print a little article asking if any of the
old
friends were still around’, said Mrs Bethune, who is now in
her 70s. She has
lived in America
for 55 years.
We did so
much together. It was Clacton the
double-decker bus took us to. Can Fred believe I was thinking of the
old times
at the same time he was?
We used to
go to Saturday night dances at Long's [a former ballroom in North
Street, Bishop's Stortford] and at half-time a gang of us gals would go
with
Molly King to her house; her mom always made us welcome.
Mrs Bethune was sent
the original Nostalgia story by her brother, Bryan Judd,
who lives in Braintree.
He called
me and said 'I'm putting something in the mail for you, it's a
surprise' - and I'll say it was’" she added.
