WE have become accustomed to instant communication across the world, and the old methods – the handwritten letter, for instance – seem quaint and often treated with disdain.
This, however, was exactly how Bob Townshend, of Queensland, Australia, found out that he and his buddies had been featured in the Examiner on August 11 last year.
“I am responding to a page from your paper which was sent to me by my cousin Chris Schofield,” he wrote in a letter posted from Queensland a fortnight ago.
Chris, a Kirkburton man, has lent the Examiner a number of old photos and mementoes, notably of Hillhouse Secondary Technical School, where he and Bob were pupils.
Bob was the goalkeeper for the school’s under-14 soccer team in 1955 and is pictured in the centre of the back row, right, in keeper’s jersey.
Chris is fourth from the left, middle row, in the class picture above.
Chris was one of the first intake of pupils to Huddersfield New College in September, 1956, where he played rugby.
A youngster called Gordon Armstrong is featured on both pictures, and there is a very good reason for that: they are both the property of Anne Armstrong of Lindley, Gordon’s wife.
“Gordon Armstrong and I were friends, meeting when my father, Philip, a police constable, moved to the new police houses in Brian Street, Lindley. Gordon lived in Thomas Street,” wrote Bob.
“After more than 50 years your pictures stirred some fantastic memories. If you are able to pass my address on to any of the ‘lads’, I would dearly love to swap yarns and compare notes.”
Bob took a love of folk music with him to Australia and is now a regular performer at the Lucas Estate vineyard in Severnlea, near Bob’s home town of Dalveen.
Bob’s full address is ‘Hillcrest’, Seaton Road, Dalveen, Queensland 4374, Australia.
