Wednesday 17th January 2024

Image from Amazon of the book cover.

I do sometimes wonder how, and more importantly why, the brain does what it does. 

This afternoon I was quite busy at work, when suddenly as clear as if someone was talking next to me the name Len Auld came into my head. I've not thought about Len for a very long time. In the early 1980's I was between jobs and went to work for my father in his printing business. During the time I was with my father he moved his business from South Shields to Sunderland, renting a unit from Speeding's and Co. It was a sensible move in many ways as Speeding's made flags, and my father printed flags, in fact Speeding's were one of his main clients at that time. Their salesman at the time was Len Auld and over  conversations with my father he had an idea to print hand made tiles with a special glaze to produce a single image from 36, 48 or more tiles. Quite ambitious designs, abstract flowers, birds in flight and so on. It was becoming all the rage back then. 

My father and I spent a fair bit of time trying to develop the technique of screen printing the glaze onto the unfired tiles, not an easy task at all with the ridges between the tiles and it took many months of trial and error before we'd almost, though not quite, got there. Then it all began to change we saw less of Len and the project faltered, before suddenly in February 1984 Len disappeared off the face of the earth. It was three years later that some hill-walkers discovered his body on the Simonsides Hills near Rothbury in Northumberland. Foul play was not suspected, he'd been a keen walker, and of course it was all over the news but once that died down life moves on and I'd not thought of Len for over three decades, until this afternoon?

A quick bit of sleuthing on-line and I discovered his widow had written a book in 2007 of his disappearance, the title a quote from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Do I want to read this book?  I'm in two minds. I'd like to know the full story, but also it was a tragic end to a really nice chap, who was always happy, courteous and in those days in very smart 1980's three piece suits with wide lapels, dark glasses all suiting his green Ford Cortina company car.

It was a shock when he disappeared, and now I know a little more of what happened. But I wonder why his name came into my head today after so many years?  Intriguing. 

There's a summary in this 2007 Evening Chronicle article.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/here-one-day-gone-next-1481969