Wartime memories, reunion hopes

Anyone who might have read my tribute to my 99-year-old Nana (http://shemeanswellbut.blogspot.com/2009/06/forget-girl-power-heres-lol-power.html) back in June this year will probably have an inkling of what a little diamond she is and how much I love her.

I always thought I knew everything about her. But I was wrong, as I found out this week.

Though I never knew it, during those hard days of World War II, she was more than just a rock of domestic security for my mum. Like countless other country housewives, she opened up her home - and her heart - to a young lad evacuated from London during the blitz.

It was on 11 November 1941 that she welcomed a dark-haired, well-spoken seven-year-old boy from East London to her Surrey home. And during his time with her, she grew so fond of him that when she gave birth to my uncle a few years later, she named him Alan after that wartime visitor.

When Alan returned to London, Nana wrote to him but sadly never received a reply. Since then, she has hoped that some day, some how, she might hear word and learn how that 'lovely young boy' turned out.

Now, in her 100th year, she's giving it one more try as detailed in a BBC news story today at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/surrey/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8344000/8344148.stm

Sadly, no-one remembers Alan's surname, but who knows? Stranger things have happened. Maybe the wonder of the Internet might just make that reunion my Nana has waited more than six decades for a reality?

If anyone thinks they might know Alan, please let me know...