1st
February 1972
ANOTHER LETTER FROM DUTCHMAN
Another
letter has arrived from Peter Van der Spek, the Dutchman who still
remembers with delight his six months stay in a camp for Dutch children
in Pontefract 27 years ago. Recently, as readers of Express Post will
have seen, Peter sent a letter addressed, "Please Postman, I’m a
letter for a local newspaper of Yorkshire, Pontefract, England."
In
it Peter wrote that he intends visiting Pontefract with his wife and
sons this summer and could we help him find some of the boyhood pals he
made there.
At
least one of them must have seen the letter and been in touch ; this
week we’ve heard from Peter, the envelope this time bearing our full
name and address, thanking us "that you have put my letter on the
column."
Also
this week Mrs Doris Atack, formerly Doris Dixon, of Chequerfield Avenue,
rang us up to say she remembers Peter well: '"We gave a party for
the Dutch children at Willow Park School - I was 12 then. Peter was the
tallest of them all. I am very pleased he is coming back, and if I wasn’t
expecting visitors from abroad myself, I would have invited him to stay
at our home."
She
also knows the ‘Mary’ referred to by Peter, and is going to get in
touch with her to tell her of Peter’s plans so it seems quite a
reunion is building up.
Apologising
for his English, "It is 25 years ago that I have write a English
letter", Peter tells us: "When you have interesting of the
time for a reporting when I am in Pontefract you can have one." To
which we say: "We understand perfectly and look forward to the
interview."
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