MISSING . . .

‘I’D LOVE to trace my childhood friend John Strong,’ writes 74-year-old Anthony Perry of Saltford, near Bath. ‘We grew up in Cumbria close to the Solway Firth. I come from the town of Silloth and John, who was three years older than me, lived ten miles away with my mother’s aunt in Aspatria. ‘He attended the grammar school in Wigton. In the late 1950s, John used to stay with families in my village for the summer holidays and we struck up a friendship. ‘Aspatria had plenty of safe places for children — the beach, pine woods near the sea and large open spaces where we could roam. ‘I became a civil servant, serving for 43 years in Britain and abroad. ‘John joined the British Army when he was old enough, in order to improve his prospects. The last time I saw him, in 1962, he was in uniform.’