TWO ex-pats have appealed to the Observer to help them track down old school friends.

Anne-Marie McNulty and Susan Ford have both posted messages on the new Accrington Exiles section of our website which is proving extremely popular.

Anne-Marie, nee Hibbert, is now living in Kenya where she runs a dog-training school and boarding kennels. She attended Paddock House Convent School from 1966-72 and her husband Michael was at Accrington Grammar School at the same time. Before then she was at St Anne's Primary School and Michael at Peel Park. Both her mum and Michael's dad still live in Accrington and she often gets the Observer sent to her.

She writes: "Not long after getting married, Michael and I left Accrington in 1974 as Michael joined the Army. Since then we have lived all over the world, returning to live in Accrington in the mid-1980s for a number of years. I would love to say hi to the friends I have lost contact with. Life in the 'colonies' is so different to living in the UK and there are times when news from home would be very nice.

"We obviously keep up with the news on Sky and the BBC and I have to say that living abroad makes you more patriotic than when you are actually living in the UK. I am fiercely proud of my homeland and my home town, even if hearing the odd joke about Accrington Stanley does wear a bit thin sometimes.''

Susan, now living in California, wants old class pictures as well as to track down a particular pal, Kathleen O'Hagen, who she thinks lives in Huncoat after growing up in Fern Gore.

Susan, nee Bullock, attended Peel Park School from 1968-73 and Holy Family Secondary School from 1973-78. She left Accrington in the early 1980s to live and work in London and in 1997 moved to Santa Barbara, California. Last year she moved with her family to live in a small town called Moraga, next door to UC Berkeley and half an hour's drive from San Francisco.

She writes: "If anybody else in the Accrington community vaguely remembers my name I would love to hear from them. Incidentally, if anyone has old school pictures from Peel Park or Holy Family when I was there I would love to receive copies via e-mail or through the post.''

  • Click here to visit the Accrington Exiles section, where you can catch up with old friends and add your messages.