A wonderful example of the friendship from Ossett Rotary

A wonderful example of the friendship of Rotary

Vice President Paul Tinker received a call one evening from a French lady called Claudine Malaquin. She was trying to track down a long-lost pen friend from Ossett who she hadn't seen or heard from for many years.  Previous attempts to trace her had failed but as her husband was in the La Bassée Rotary Club in Northern France she thought what better way to do this than unleash the power of Rotary. 

Claudine found our website and as the named contact, she called VP Paul and asked if he could help.  She told Paul that her friend, Andrea (Andi) Harrison, had lived in Southdale Gardens, Ossett and had been her bridesmaid back in the 1960's but she hadn't had any contact since the 1970’s.

An email to the Club got our Rtn Keith Lister (a retired Police Officer) working on tracking her down but Paul also posted a request for information on a couple of Facebook groups. This resulted in Paul being contacted by another old friend of Andi's, a lady called Karen, who had also lost touch with Andi but knew she had divorced and moved to Hartshead. A few weeks went by before an ex son in law of Andi contacted Paul and offered to pass Claudine’s and Karen’s contact details to Andi.

Andi and Karen are back in touch but more importantly Claudine and Andi have been reunited for the first time in 50 years, all thanks to Rotary!

And as for our Club, we are now planning a visit to La Bassee Rotary Club, once Covid restrictions are lifted.