THEY say you never forget your first love, and Kenneth Kelly never has.

The 76-year-old, who now lives in Yarnton, was a labourer from London when he first moved to Oxford 56 years ago.

Despite a steady job working with a stonemason in South Parks Road, Mr Kelly was ready to give up on the city until a chance meeting with a girl at the town hall made him have a change of mind, and heart.

Now Mr Kelly is so keen to contact his former love he has asked the Oxford Mail to help trace her.

He said: “When I came to Oxford I didn’t think much of it to be honest. I was ready to pack up and go back to London.

“But one night, I decided to go to a dance at the Town Hall.

“I met this beautiful girl there, she must have been about 17.

“Her name was Maureen Davenport. She had lovely blonde hair, and a lovely slim figure.

“We got talking at the dance and then went for a drink in The Mitre pub afterwards and soon became boyfriend and girlfriend.”

According to Mr Kelly, Miss Davenport lived in Newman Road, near the Rose Hill roundabout, and worked as a secretary for an accountant’s in King Edward Street.

Mr Kelly said the pair courted for about six months but had to split up because her parents did not think he was good enough for their daughter – and that was the last he saw of her.

He later fell in love with and married another Oxford girl, Margaret Jordan, and the couple enjoyed 50 happy years together.

But since Margaret passed away four years ago, Mr Kelly said he had not been able to get Maureen out of his head and was now keen to trace his lost love.

He said: “They say you never forget your first girlfriend. I would just like to know how she is getting on, and hear about her life since we last saw each other.

“Now I am a bit older I don’t want to always wonder what happened to her.”

Mr Kelly said he struck on the idea while talking to his friend Albert ‘Albie’ Parker, from Bicester, at a tea dance in Wolvercote.

Mr Parker said he would be also keen on hearing how his old flame Carol Soames, who was a farmer’s daughter from Hethe, had been getting on over the years.

The pair met at the White Horse pub, in Bicester, while Carol was about to start a course at university. He said: “She was just beautiful. Lovely dark hair and beautiful brown eyes. Too good for me to be honest!

“But when Ken and I got talking about it I said to him I would just like to see her one more time before I go.

“Just to chat to her and see her now and see what she has been doing for the past 40 years.”

To get in contact with Mr Kelly or Mr Parker, call us on 01865 425500