We'd also like to thank Deirdre Polakowski who supplied information about her ancestors which we have used in our first article this month. Emigration splits the history of a family into two distinct parts and makes tracing those histories very difficult. Just a few weeks on a ship and  a totally different family came into being. Children born in the new country knew nothing of the terrible grinding poverty of places like Buckfastleigh and even less of the despair which had driven their parents away from their families, friends and the familiar sights of Devon.

Please can you help to track down a lost Stentiford? We are trying to find a Richard Stentiford who, hopefully, is still alive. Believed to be Plymouth-born, he joined REME in 1991 and saw service in Northern Ireland. He was last heard of in Bosnia in the winter of 1994. A friend has contacted us and would very much like to get in touch. If you think you know Richard, please use our e-mail connection - he may not wish to renew any previous acquaintances but at least we could pass on the news that he is well. If he does wish to get in touch with his friend, we have permission to pass on that person's e-mail address.

Keep in touch,

Muriel and Richard