An old Luton News photo of a snowy scene in George Street has led to two former work colleagues being reunited after 60 years.
The picture showed the old Woolworths store where Sylvia Ansell and best friend Joan Bennett were employed in the early 1950s.
Sylvia was “thrilled” to see the photo on the Yesteryear page of the March 20 edition of this newspaper. She immediately wrote telling of her memories of working at Woolies and her attempts to find Joan after losing touch with her so long ago.
“I tried to find her by advertising in a national magazine, but was unsuccessful,” said Sylvia, 76, who lives at Shillington.
“But then my letter to the Luton News paid off. Joan now lives in Coventry, but she still has relatives in Luton who sent her a cutting from the paper.
“As a result, we spoke on the phone many times before Joan came down to Luton by coach and we met outside the Galaxy Centre. We hadn’t seen each other for 60 years so we didn’t recognise eachother.”
The pair spent several hours together in Luton town centre, including lunch at Debenhams, before Joan stayed the night at a friend’s home in Slip End, returning to Coventry the next day.
Sylvia was a Saturday girl at Woolworths before she was offered full-time employment when she left school in 1951.
She and Joan went on holiday to Butlins at Clacton together two years later.
Joan had kept several photos of the pair together, including with a group of friends in Wardown Park (Sid Davies, Doreen, Kathleen and Irene Bavister, Mick Falmer, Martin McCartney, Ted Potter) who they would like to meet up with again.
“It’s thanks to the Luton News that I managed to find Joan,” said Sylvia.
“We shall, of course, be keeping in touch now.”