Caxton journos put their heads together to find Angela
Marietta Lombard, Editor of the Bedfordview and Edenvale News, explains how Angela was found.
Bedfordview and Edenvale NEWS Editor, Marietta Lombard, was informed about the bottle by former Caxton East Rand colleague, Mari Scott, sub-editor at Mossel Bay Advertiser, after Michael had posted photos of his find on social media. Marietta explains how Angela Leigh Harris was found.
“When Mari contacted us, we immediately realised the potential of this story and, together with our Online Editor Charmaine Slater, we jumped at the opportunity to hopefully find Angela and bring the two together.
“Our first search, on Facebook, yielded no results. The same afternoon, I assigned Charmaine to visit the address, provided by Angela in her 2001 letter. That too resulted in nothing as the house seemed to be vacant. I searched online and it was purely through our skills as multimedia journalists that she was found. I searched various social media platforms and eventually resorted to Google, where I found her LinkedIn profile. I was able to correctly identify Angela Leigh Harris by cross referencing her information from her LinkedIn profile with that provided in her letter. I was then able to identify her profile on Facebook, which provided very little information as her profile is closed for public viewing. I sent her an inbox message with the photos taken by Michael but had no response. I recall saying to my husband that night at 11pm, ‘I found her’.
“The following morning I phoned Angela’s place of work as provided on her LinkedIn profile. When I told Angela my name, her first question to me was why had I sent her a Facebook friend request and why was I phoning her.
“I asked if she was Angela Leigh Harris and whether her birth date is August 17, 1987. Hesitantly, she answered yes. I then asked her whether she had written a letter on January 1, 2001, and had placed the letter with several items in a bottle. Again she replied yes.
“Your letter has been found,” I said.
Angela was taken aback but pleasantly surprised. She granted us permission to provide her contact details to Michael to put them in touch with each other.
“Finding Angela and putting people in contact with each other is a significant part of Caxton community newspapers.”
