Trying to contact David Hirst

[KayMack]

I have been trying to trace an old friend of mine. We worked together at Laurence, Scott and Electromotors in Norwich between 1990 and 1994 but lost touch about a year later. I understand that he moved back to Sheffield to work on the railway after that. He is about 61 years old now so if anyone knows the whereabouts of my friend David Hirst I would be very grateful for any information. Many thanks.

 

[theageofthetra]

I know it might sound obvious but have you just tried Googling his name? It will normally bring up results from a site called 192.com. They will have everyone with that name who has ever been the electoral role and a partial address.and an age range. Once you have narrowed it down you can then look for twitter/facebook accounts or internet forum postings . I recently found someone who I had lost touch with that way. If nothing else it will be an eye opener on how careless people are with making their personal data publically accessible!

 

[KayMack]

Thank you for your reply. I'm sure I did try that initially and it is something I can look at again. I think I may have been put off because it is a quite common name especially in that area. I'll have another look to see if it can give me a few indicators. Thanks again for your help.

 

[asylumxl]

There are a few D Hirst in Sheffield. Do you know his middle name? If so, there is a D.J. Hirst in Sheffield. Any more information that could be useful?

 

[KayMack]

Thank you for the reply. I can't remember a middle name although David J seems familiar. The David I knew was tall, about 6ft 1 or 2, wore glasses and had short, dark curly hair. He was also ex RAF.

 

[Lucymay]

Hi,

Im also trying to locate David. I know he was last working in Sheffield in the signalling box I think. Ive tried googling, facebook etc but come up with a huge amount of the same name. Im trying to get some info to him so if you manage to find him Id be grateful if you let me know as a very dear friend of his died a couple of weeks ago and I feel sure he would want to know.

 

[KayMack]

Hi Lucy, did you have any luck trying to find David? I used to work with David when he lived in Norwich in the early 90s. He would be about 62 now. Is this the same person you are looking for?

 

[Lucymay]

Hi Kaymack,

Yes it is the same David. In fact my husband saw him a few months ago when he attended a funeral of one of their old workmates.

He is retired now and lives in Sheffield. He doesn't have an email address so isn't easy to locate I'm afraid. He did give us a phone number [number removed].

I hope he doesn't mind me giving it to you.

 

[KayMack]

Hello everyone,


I’m hoping someone here may be able to help me trace an old friend and former work colleague, David John Hirst.


David and I worked together at Laurence, Scott & Electromotors in Norwich from around 1990 until we were both made redundant in 1994. He then returned to the Sheffield area, where he worked in railway signalling, which is why I came to RailUK Forums in the hope that someone might remember him.


Thanks to the kindness of members on this forum, I was able to reconnect with David several years ago, and we stayed in touch until September 2020. Sadly, I then lost contact with him quite suddenly and, despite trying to trace him through public records, I haven’t been able to find out what happened to him.


If anyone worked with David in signalling or knew him through the railway and is able to let me know whether he is well, whether he moved away, or any other information they feel comfortable sharing, I would be extremely grateful. I’m not asking for personal contact details if he is still living—I’m simply hoping to learn what became of an old friend and to know that he is OK.


If you’d rather not reply publicly, please feel free to send me a private message.


Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

Kay Mack