EIGHT years after Claudia Lawrence vanished without trace, the support for her loved ones knows no bounds.

Last week, it came all the way from Australia when Claudia’s mum, Joan, was reunited in her home town of Darlington with childhood best friend Eileen Simpson.

Eileen – maiden name Furlong – first met Joan nearly 70 years ago when they were five-year-old neighbours. Joan lived in Woodcrest Road and Eileen lived in Manor Road. They went to Arthur Pease Infants School, had great fun at All Saints Church playgroup, and were confirmed together.

“She was the first friend I ever remember having in Darlington so I had to come and see her, didn’t I?” said Eileen.

Eileen emigrated to Sydney and is on holiday in England, staying with relatives in Bournemouth, but she made a point of travelling to Darlington to see her old friend.

Joan was born and bred in Darlington and the pair visited all their old haunts during Eileen’s flying visit. Arthur Pease School has now been turned into flats but they lit a candle at All Saints Church in memory of Claudia, a university chef, who disappeared from her home in York on March 18, 2009.

Like so many others all over the world, Eileen is praying for a breakthrough: “When I heard what had happened, I wrote to Joan and she’s always in my thoughts. I honestly believe that Claudia is alive somewhere – I just feel it in my heart.”

Joan insists she will never give up hope and the promise I’ve made is to help keep Claudia’s memory in the spotlight.

“I have support from people all over the world,” said Joan. “I’m very, very fortunate.”

It’s incredible to think that someone who wakes up to such unimaginable sorrow every day can still consider herself to be lucky.

LAST year, it was a pleasure to tell the inspiring story of Steven Hutchinson, who became a world-class golfer despite losing an arm in a motorbike accident 12 years ago.

The latest update is that Steven, pictured below, a member at Barnard Castle Golf Club, has performed heroically at the World One-Armed Championships at Tynemouth.

After battling through the qualifying stages, Steven, who works at Blackwell Golf Club in Darlington, finished a gallant runner-up to South African Reinard Schuhknecht. Darlington’s Darren Grey also performed admirably to reach the semi-finals.

“It was a fantastic week and I’m really proud of getting so far,” said Steven, whose sights are fixed on playing for Europe in next year’s Fightmaster Cup, the one-armed equivalent of the Ryder Cup.

By the way, Reinard Schuhknecht won the longest drive at 277 yards. I know – really annoying isn’t it?

The Northern Echo:

GROWING up in South Bank, our only famous sons were Wilf Mannion, the “Golden Boy” of Middlesbrough Football Club, and folk singer Vin Garbutt.

They were names that were revered in the working class community labelled “Slaggy Island” because of the slagheaps from the steelworks.

Vin, pictured below, lived latterly a few miles away on the coast at Loftus but South Bank folk were always proud to call him one of their own.

I was privileged to see him perform last December at the BBC Tees Christmas concert at St Mary’s Cathedral in the memory of “The Voice of the Boro”, Ali Brownlee. It was clear Vin wasn’t in the best of health but it was still special to hear him sing.

After failing to recover from heart surgery, Vin passed away, aged 69, and was buried on Friday at Eston Cemetery, just up the hill from where he grew up.

That was what people loved about Vin Garbutt – despite a rare talent that could have taken him anywhere in the world, he never ventured far from his roots. Rest in peace.

The Northern Echo:

APPARENTLY, the sign below, at Crook, County Durham, has been rectified. But do you reckon the workman who painted it was having a T-break? Or do they just have particularly messy buses around Crook?

The Northern Echo:

QUOTE of the week: “Theresa May is a good Prime Minister,” insisted Brexit minister David Davis on Sky News. “That’s like saying Richard Hammond is a great driver,” replied anchorman Adam Boulton,

FINALLY, a warning about the dangers of sending hurried text messages...

My wife was kindly helping to arrange a game of tennis for me against one of her friends. The text message she sent me was meant to say: “Janet sez 7pm.”

Suffice to say the ‘z’ is next to the ‘x’. It came across as an instruction I wasn’t expecting but I turned up to give it my best.