TEENAGER Doreen Catterall marched through the ginnel as she headed to her brother's house on a warm summer's evening.

But her happy frame of mind was shattered when she bumped into her frantic cousin Miriam Fox in the passageway, desperately searching for her little sister.

Only hours earlier on that day -- Friday August 18, 1944 -- Sheila Fox, Doreen's cousin, had been reported missing.

Miriam, the little girl's eldest sister, had joined scores of other volunteers as the hunt began for the six-year-old girl throughout the New Bury and Farnworth district.

"Have you seen our Sheila?" Miriam asked urgently. "She's gone missing, we don't know where she is."

Today Doreen -- now Mrs Holt -- can still remember the terrible moments when she learned that her little cousin had vanished without trace. And the 71-year-old great-grandmother told of her hopes that Sheila can finally be laid to rest.

She added: "I can still see Sheila's little face now. She was always laughing. She was such a lovely little girl, a lively child but also a bit shy.

"I know it's a terrible thing to say but I only wish that they find her body. It will put everything right.

"When I heard what was being done in the garden I just couldn't believe it. I thought I was hearing things.

"Then we would know where she had been instead of thinking what could possibly have been. It would be a Godsend for us all to know where she was.

"For such a long time we could just not get to grips with what had happened. It was simply that she had disappeared without trace. It was very hard to deal with."

Doreen's parents joined the search for Sheila over coming days. Mrs Holt's mother, Maude, was the sister of Sheila's mum, Miriam, and provided constant support during the ordeal.

Doreen and her younger brother Gordon had been regular visitors to Sheila's home in Macdonald Avenue, spending time with their aunty, uncle and cousins.

But the years after Sheila's disappearance and the constant worries about the child's welfare proved a terrible burden for her parents.

Mrs Holt, of Dean Close, Farnworth, added: "They were never the same after it all. My aunty just used to stay indoors. She was waiting for Sheila to come back all the time." Doreen Holt: "I can still see Sheila's little face now. She was always laughing."