Newspaper article helps Donegal friends reunite in Scotland after 52 years apart

A feature in a local newspaper in Donegal led to two long-lost friends, who moved to Scotland separately in the early 1960s, being reunited after 52 years apart.

Urris native Sadie Doherty-McKeown, who lives in Girvan on Scotland’s west coast, recently visited Shirley Grant (nee Herron) from Fintown, who was celebrating her birthday. It wasn’t the first time they’ve met up or spoken in recent times, although their chance to do so was an unexpected one.

A few years back, Sadie came across an article in The Inish Times, which was posted over the Irish Sea to her. from her family in Inishowen. Whilst flicking through the pages, she noticed a story on Shirley, which showed photographs from bygone years at the Plaza in Buncrana.

Sadie and Shirley were teenage friends in Buncrana and used to frequent the dance halls at the Plaza and in Ballyliffin. At the time, Sadie worked at the Breen Bay House and for Ms Hanson, a local schoolteacher, while Shirley was a nanny for Dr McLaughlin.

Shirley moved to Scotland in 1963, aged 18, and settled in Bo'ness on the south bank of the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh and Stirling. Sadie made the move a year later at 17 and she was on the opposite side of the country at the seaside resort of Girvan, South Ayrshire. The plan initially for Sadie was “just for the summer” but it soon became home.

In 1967, Sadie married a local man, Don, who worked in air traffic control, with his job taking him to the German city of Bielefeld in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia for four years. Then it was onto Dorset in south England before a return to Girvan. Don, who passed away 25 years ago last week, found a post nearby at Prestwick Airport. 

Sadie was employed at the Kings Arms in Girvan and soon upskilled by attending night school, where she did book-keeping and typing, which earned her a new role in the hotel. Having first moved to Scotland, Sadie wrote to Shirley but when she had her purse stolen, she lost Shirley’s address which was stored inside and the months turned into years. 

“I was looking through the paper and saw the old photos of the Plaza and saw Shirley,” Sadie told DonegalLive from Scotland. “I was sure it was her when I saw it, so I wondered how I would go about finding her.

“I’m a member of Missing Persons Scotland and decided to put an advert in and Shirley’s daughter’s friend saw it and we were soon back in touch. We’ve been in contact for the last few years, first of all speaking on the phone and we’re only two hours apart here in Scotland so I went to visit her and was there recently. I’m just so thankful for getting the chance through the Inish Times and it's great to have met Shirley again.”

Shirley married Jim Grant and they had three children - two girls and a boy - and is coming back to Donegal in the coming days, while Sadie, who has family in Clonmany, Urris, Moville and Buncrana, is planning a trip in the next few weeks.