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MY sister Phyllis, from Guernsey, helped at the World Scout Jamboree at Hylands Park last August.

When it ended, I travelled from Frome, Somerset, to meet her, to research our elusive grandfather, Henry Witt, aka Harold Herbert Henry Witts, who we believed spent the latter part of his life in Essex.

We met him only once in 1951, when we stayed one night in Fobbing. In the Essex Record office in August we confirmed that he was living at Verdon', Inglefield Rd, Fobbing, from at least 1945 until c1953, with wife Phyllis, son Peter and daughter-in-law Ernestine.

The family moved to Wharf Rd, Stanford-le-Hope in 1953/4. While in Chelmsford we visited the house in Stanford, and later discovered that grandfather died there in November 1959.

The rest of the family moved away soon after.

Despite many enquiries, I have been unable to find any record of where he was buried. I even tried an undertakers office in the same road and, would you believe it, of all their records back to at least 1945, the volume covering 1959 was missing!

Can I please ask your readers if anyone remembers the Witt family at that time, as we would really like to know a little about our grandfather.

All the Essex people I have contacted have been very kind and willing to help, for which we are very grateful, but many results have been negative.

Because of a bus that didn't run as time-tabled, we failed to get to Fobbing in the time we had, but a couple of members of the Essex Family History society kindly looked for Verdon' without success.

We have a vague memory of a wooden chalet style house on short piers (we were only nine and 12 years old at the time).

Does any reader remember such houses in Inglefield Rd, please? Or what happened to them?

We would be very grateful for any information about this branch of the family we didn't know.

Patricia Oatley, nee Witt.

Mrs P. K. Oatley,

42 Mendip Drive, Frome, BA11 2HU.

01373 463985

or email: patricia@talktalk.net

11:40am Saturday 9th February 2008

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