Missing you

WHEN HAMPSHIRE grandmother Jackie Cornish decided to trace her step-sister after 35 years apart, she had no idea where to start.

She knew Pamela Lewis had emigrated to Australia after setting sail with countless other families from Southampton.

But when Jackie's elderly mother died, all links with Pamela were lost.

"I often wondered how she was getting on, and in 2002 we decided to try to find her," said Jackie, 56, a mother of four who works as a care assistant.

"My husband, Keith, and I went to the library and tried to trace her using the international phone books, but it was hopeless.

"We had no idea where she was and even when we tried the Internet we got nowhere."

For a while after she emigrated, Pamela, 63, sent letters to Jackie's mum, but when she died the link fell apart.

"I went to my mum's flat a few months after she died to see if there was any post and there was nothing - but it turned out letters had been sent back to her," said Jackie.

After struggling to make contact with Pamela, the Cornish family called in the Salvation Army.

"It was amazing. Within two or three weeks they had found her.

"I wrote straight away and the year before last she came over for six weeks to visit. It was really emotional seeing her again and we are now planning to go to Australia later this year," she said.

The Salvation Army has a staggering 86 per cent success rate and is urging the 27 per cent of Britons who have lost touch with a family member to contact them during May, Missing Persons Awareness Month.

Their Family Tracing Service was founded in 1885 and is one of the oldest services of its kind in the world.

According to an NOP poll commissioned by The Salvation Army, three-quarters of people who want to trace a relative again have not yet tried to find them, possibly because they are unsure as to where to begin.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have not only lost touch with a family member but they are currently considering how to go about finding them, and that is what the awareness month is all about," said Lt-Col Ron Smith, director of the Salvation Army's Family Tracing Service.

"We deal with nearly 4,000 cases a year, and we would encourage people to start a search with us now and not lose out on years with a family member or, worse still, discover that they have passed away. Many people say finding a missing relative is the best thing they've ever done."

Every day, the service traces up to a dozen people.

Lt-Col Smith revealed there were many reasons why people can lose touch with family members.

"Family breakdown, parents separating and children being taken into care all play a part, as well as lethargy. Often, people can assume they will always be in contact with Aunty Maud or Uncle Jack but they just lose touch," he said.

The research also showed that:

men are more likely to want to meet a missing relative than women

58 per cent of 15-24 year-olds would want to meet up with a missing relative

40 per cent of respondents had lost touch with family members simply out of neglect to keep in touch

11 per cent attributed loss of contact to family breakdown and ten per cent to parental separation/divorce.

The Salvation Army is linked with other agencies in the UK who look for missing people, all of whom are joined through one common website - www.look4them.org.

These are the Missing Persons Helpline, the Red Cross, International Social Service (ISS), the Metropolitan police, the Association of British Investigators, Reunite and NORCAP.

It only costs £40 (£20 for people on benefits) to find a relative through The Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army Family Tracing Service was founded in 1885 and is one of the oldest tracing services in the world.

To look for a relative contact The Salvation Army Family Tracing Service, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. Telephone 0845 634 4747, or e-mail: familytracing@salvationarmy.org.uk or log on to www.salvationarmy.org.uk/familytracing