Dear Burngreave Messenger,
I wish to refer to your articles of December 2008 and February 2009 which featured Tom Gould. In the February obituary (Tom Gould 1918 – 2009) you stated that Tom had no living relatives. In fact he was my Father's cousin and myself and my Mother were in contact with Tom right up until his death.
Until my mother moved from Sheffield, following ill-health, she and Tom saw each other on a regular basis. My mother is elderly and disabled and, although she was no longer able to travel long distance, she and Tom continued to correspond.
Although I moved away from Sheffield, Tom attended my wedding, we exchanged letters and we kept up to date with our lives and my family. I can appreciate however you were probably not aware of this as Tom was quite a private gentleman by nature. His death came as a shock as I had only recently received his Christmas card and note, the only year it had arrived late. It was a pleasure to read your article about Tom – it reminded me of my father first telling me about Tom being a Prisoner Of War. It was also lovely to see such a recent photograph of him before he died. I will always remember him as a kind man, of few words in many ways, a true gentleman of the like we seldom see.
Kind regards, Valerie Brightman
Apologies to Valerie and family for the error in the February 2009 edition. We are pleased that the Messenger was able to document a small part of Tom’s life in December 2008 and we know that he is fondly remembered by Firs Hill residents.
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