Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 15 August 1942

Fortune Teller’s “Tip” For Wombwell Man

In April of this year Driver Cyril Varney, R.A. (24), of 71, Lambert Road, Kendray Estate, Barnsley, and son of Mrs. Matilda Varney, 72, Hough Lane, Wombwell, wrote home to say that he had been told by a fortune teller in Cairo that he would be home in eight months’ time — Christmas!

He is now a prisoner of war in the hands of the Italians. Mrs. Varney received the news from her son on Tuesday.

Varney before joining up in Feb., 1940, was employed on the surface at Mitchell Main. Drafted to the Middle East just before last Christmas, he has been missing since June. His letter from prison earn says: “I was captured during the battle of Tobruk, and am now a prisoner of war.

Tell my friends at Wombwell to send me a parcel through the Red Cross.”