4th January 1972 
SPENT SIX MONTHS IN CAMP FOR DUTCH CHILDREN

May I first introduce myself. My Name is Peter Van Der Spek. As a boy of 14 I spent half a year in your town, in a camp for Dutch children, there was another in Wakefield. I have a lot of good memories of those days but I have never been able to go back. Now, after 27 years, I’d like to go back again in July-August and try to find old friends whom I met when I was a child, and show my wife and sons the place I will never forget in all my life. I’d like to ask if you could possibly help me to find these old friends.

The only things I can remember are the first name of a girl at a party we had at school (I think called Northgate); her name was Mary: and the names of the girls working in the kitchen of the camp were Daisy and Irene. I can remember the church and tannery and the viaduct near the camp, and Ewbanks liquorice factory. I hope some of your readers will help me get in touch with some of my old friends in Pontefract. 

PETER Van Der SPEK, Holland.

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