A LETTER to the Citizen has paved the way for an emotional reunion between two former nurses who have not seen each other for more than 40 years.

Moira Miller, who lives in Florida, wrote to the paper asking for help in tracing Pearl Marsden, who she knew as Pearl Davidson. The nurses trained together at the old Davyhulme Park Hospital in Manchester, but lost touch when Moira emigrated to the USA in 1958.

Then, last week, a neighbour of Pearl, who lives in Hillside Close, Thornton, pointed out the letter in the Citizen.

Pearl said: "I was over the moon. After 40 years, it was something of a shock. I saw the paper on the Friday (March 5) and rang Moira that evening. We spoke for two hours."

The retired nurse, who was born in Thornton, originally trained at Westminster Hospital in London, but homesickness forced her to return to the North West.

It was at Davyhulme Park, now known as Trafford General Hospital, that she met Moira and they became firm friends.

After leaving the hospital, Pearl returned to Thornton to work in the occupational health department at ICI.

The two ex-nurses are now trying to trace other colleagues who trained at the hospital with them. It was after the death of her brother last year that Moira first thought of trying to trace her old workmates.

She had kept in touch with another former Park nurse, Anne Matthews, who had completed her training at the same time.

Moira said: "I thought it would be nice if we could get hold of Pearl. We graduated in 1954, when I was 21 and a lot of things happened in that year."

Searching the Internet for ways of contacting Pearl, Moira came across the Citizen. Her letter appeared in last week's paper.

She said: "I was thrilled to bits. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know if your paper would print the letter. I was flabbergasted when she called me. We split the phone bill. She called me for an hour and then I called her for an hour."

Moira, who comes from Manchester, still keeps in touch with her roots. She is a keen Manchester United fan and has a cousin in St Annes.

She plans to visit Pearl in October. In the meantime, she is trying to trace Audrey Evans (nee Fell) and Freda Kirkbride, who also trained at Park Hospital.

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