THROUGH the letters page of the Crediton Courier, I am delighted to add an update to my recent request for information about Bert Burridge from Crediton. I was contacted first thing on a Friday morning by Courier reader, Dr John Boyle, who had met a Bert from Crediton working at Queensland, a University, whilst on a sabbatical in Australia. It sounded just like our man! Later on that day, another John from Crediton, kindly contacted me to say I should get in touch with his neighbour, Les Burridge, who turned out to be Bert's older brother. Les lives with his lovely wife, Shirley, in Crediton and I visited them and found out that "Bert" had sadly died in 2006 in Australia, but his widow, the Spanish lady, was still alive, together with their three children, Santi, Anne and Michael and nine grandchildren, all of whom were delighted to renew contact with David Hawkings. Interestingly, although I had tried to trace Bert myself, I had no luck. I could find no trace in the records which is why I knew I had to write a letter to the people of Crediton. I would like to thank everyone for the fantastic response. It turns out that Bert was actually Christened Michael Burridge and he was born in Crediton in 1937. Without the help of the Courier, I would never have got to the bottom of the mystery. In my searches, I also uncovered a fourth cousin of Michael "Bert" Burridge who currently lives in Exeter and I have been able to pass on his details to the family back in Australia. Needless to say, my friend, David Hawkings, is quite overwhelmed at regaining contact with the family of an old university friend. Bert's oldest son, Santi Burridge, is coming to Crediton in early September to visit his uncle and aunt, Les and Shirley Burridge and we have arranged for David Hawkings to join them for a celebration reunion! In addition, I have had the pleasure of meeting Les and Shirley in Crediton and corresponding by emails with Lupe Burridge and her grown-up children, Anne, Santi and Michael, in Australia. Curiously, David Hawkings had recently published a book called "Bound for Australia" on the transportation records to Australia - I am delighted to add, hastily, that our Bert Burridge departed for Australia under much happier and more conventional circumstances and subsequently made a great success for himself and his family, but they still have a special place in their hearts for Crediton. Sorry to have rambled on, but I have often seen similar requests for finding family contacts in the Courier and have often wondered what actually happened afterwards, so I wanted to share my experience with readers. Thank you. Judi Binks By email