By Rosemary Bailey
This article was published in the August 2017 edition of Soul Search, the Journal of The Sole Society
In the last journal I included a photo as part of Fred’s Memory Rambles. I annotated it ‘Back row, left to right, Fred Sole, Don Steel, front row left to right, June Sole and Monica Steel’. Don Steel and Fred Sole of course started the Society which is why it was of interest. When she received her journal Fred’s widow Joan contacted me to say that the other lady was actually Linda Butler, a society member and cousin of Don’s, who was visiting from Australia at the time.
It was lovely to hear from June, who was very much part of the Society, coming to all the Annual Gatherings and committee meetings with Fred. June is a now a life member of the society. She wrote:
Please give my kind regards to all the Soles, Sauls, Solleys and Sewells when you meet again, the Society was such a big part of Fred’s life and gave him so much pleasure and I still love to get the Journal, nothing gets done until I have read it from cover to cover.
I emailed to apologise to Linda for printing her photo without permission and she replied:
That photo must have come from the very first time I met Don, Fred and June. I’d been corresponding with Don about the Soles for some time, and when I was over in the UK for work one time he took me to a family history conference, and we stopped over with Fred and June on the way. It was the start of a friendship with June and Fred that was very dear to me.