Childhood friends have been reunited after nearly 50 years by a Braintree woman.

Tracked down - Sheila Ambrose, left, who put Jennifer Smee, right, in touch with long lost friend Tina Bareham (in held-up photograph). Picture: ADRIAN RUSHTON (23284-2)

Sheila Ambrose, 64, of Hillside Gardens, Braintree, routinely checked her e-mail a few weeks ago to find a message from a woman who lives in New Zealand.

The message was from Tina Bareham, 62, who had lived in Braintree when she attended the then Braintree Secondary Modern School in Panfield Lane in 1953.

Through the website Friends Reunited Mrs Bareham was attempting to track down her childhood friend Jennifer Cocker who also lived in Braintree at the same time.

Unfortunately Mrs Ambrose did not recognise the name but because her sister Shirley would have been in the same school year as Mrs Bareham she asked her.

And as luck had it, she remembered both women and also that Mrs Cocker, who is now Mrs Smee, still lived in the area and worked at Borno Chemists in Bank Street, Braintree.

Mrs Ambrose said: "When Tina first e-mailed me I sent one back saying I didn't know her but I would look into it.

"I asked my sister who then told me where Jennifer worked, so I went there and said I'd had this e-mail from this lady who was trying to contact her and then gave her some details.

"They've been in contact with each other ever since."

Mrs Bareham was abandoned as a baby and grew up in a Barnardo's orphanage in Kelvedon.

And Mrs Smee, 62, an only child, lived with her parents in Church Road, Black Notley. She now lives in Cressing Road, Braintree.

She said: "It's really lovely to speak to her again. We were best friends for four years and then one night she was just taken away and I never saw her again.

Mrs Bareham is planning to visit Mrs Smee in Braintree within the next few years.

Published Tuesday August 27, 2002

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