YOUR favourite newspaper often turns up in far-flung corners of the earth, and yet again the Star has excelled itself by twinkling more than 15,000 miles away!

And in doing so it has re-forged links with St Helens folk long exiled in New Zealand, plus - much nearer home - Coventry, and also rekindled war-time memories for two 'old sweats' who last swapped yarns in Palestine during the dark days of World War Two.

The fascinating follow-up was triggered by the inclusion in a recent edition of a photograph taken in Jerusalem in 1943 and submitted by Morecambe-based 76-year old retired probation officer Eric Dever, who was born and bred in Ward Street. Also in the group with RAF recruit Eric were soldiers Bert Hughes, Norman Gee and an unnamed staff-sergeant, all of whom came from St Helens. And, given the 54-year time-scale, Mr Dever was anxious to learn what fate had in store for them.

First to contact Eric was Doreen Mooney, of Billinge, who said she was a lifelong friend of Bert Hughes' 62-year-old daughter Marjorie Rothwell, who has lived in New Zealand for 20 years with her mother Betty.

Mrs Mooney confirmed that Bert manned the tannoy system, and with it hospital broadcasts, plus officially opening the Edington Stand at Saints in the early post-war years, then worked for the NSPCC and is buried at Christ Church, Eccleston.

Doreen ended her telephone chat with Eric by saying she is a sister of former Saints star 'Todder' Dickinson, and has been a Knowsley Road fanatic all her life. Next on the hot-line to Morecambe was octogenarian Ellen Elliott, of Boundary Road, who told Mr Dever that she and Bert Hughes were cousins, but had lost contact with his family after their move to the other side of the world.

Mrs. Elliott, who has been put in touch with Mrs Mooney by Eric Dever, added that her late husband Jim also bumped into Bert Hughes in Jerusalem during the 1939-45 conflict

The half-century void was bridged even further when Eric was re-united with Coventry-based Norman Gee, with the joyous link-up happening when his sister Olive Ball, of Napier Close, read the story in the Star.

Said Eric: "Norman was a classmate at Higher Grade School and that topic, along with war-time memories, dominated our phone conversation, and he also said the staff-sergeant's name was Cyril Simm.

"Cyril was a regular soldier and would now be in his early 80s, and that might ring a bell with long-in-tooth 'Sintelliners' - anything is possible after the way the Star has brought us all together again!" ended the delighted Dever.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.