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Gerry's
Blog/Diary - Days 01 to 50 |
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In the early days Gerry sometimes wrote more than 1 day
together. At times he had. The wrong day for the date or. The
wrong date for the Day Or write 2 for the same Date
or Day e.g. There was 2
Day 38s & 2
Dates 12/06/2007 |
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Phil
Day 32- 50
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Digital Images
Days 49- 50
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Amsterdam
Day 50
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Day 50 - 22/06/2007
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Friday
We never thought it would happen: 50 days without Madeleine. Solidarity the
world over has been expressed today with the launch of balloons in every
continent to remember Madeleine and other missing children. The event in
Praia da Luz had considerable media interest as did many other releases the
world over. Sean and Amelie released their balloons shortly after kate and I
let go our 50 and we were pleased the media respected our wish for the twins
not to be photographed any longer. Please send digital images and video of
your local event to images@bringmadeleinehome.com
We were not planning to say anything at the launch but there was
such a large turnout from Portuguese TV who we have not spoken to for some
time that we decided to answer their questions. The beauty of the launch was
the local and international dimension with media coverage spreading
Madeleines image far and wide.
We have seen the video of the
Ullapool (home of the website and my sister Phil) launch, Glasgow and
extensive pictures from Amsterdam. We very much look forward to seeing
pictures from all the other venues. One of these balloons may just be found
by someone who recognises Madeleine and alerts the authorities.
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Yemeni Vargas
Day 49
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Yellow Ribbons
Day 49
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Letters
Day 49
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Balloons
Day 45-46-47-48-49 -50 |
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Day 49 - 21/06/2007 -
Thursday
Met with the Portuguese police today for an update. Their
committemnt to find Madeleine matches ours and we all hope for that
vital breakthrough every day.
We have literally received thousands
of letters, cards and messages of support here in
Portugal
which have helped give us strength during this
terrible time. Yesterday we received a particularly touching gift which is
entitled Madeleines Book of Hope made up with
comments from children of all ages from 3 different schools including a
pre-school. The messages in different coloured pages with green and yellow
ribbons had both the power to us cry and laugh!
The response to the
balloon launch to mark 50 days that Madeleine has been missing has been
incredible. There are close to 300 centres, and countries all over the
world, participating. There has been a lot of local media interest but
remember to take digital photographs and videos if possible which will be
able to be uploaded to the website so we can display them. The message of
Madeleines disappearance will reach
many more people tomorrow.
A pleasing aspect of the launch will be
the highlighting of other missing or abducted children, many of whom will
have recieved
little public attention. I know that 7 year old Yeremi
Vargas will be remembered in
Madrid
and his family will be releasing balloons from Gran Canaria
where he disappeared in March of this year.
Our campaign to find
Madeleine will be associated with other child welfare issues in the future.
We are very keen to see more debate on issues that we and other families in
similar situations have to face. Child abuse is a taboo subject still in
many countries and we must encourage responsible debate around how child
abuse can be prevented.
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Day 48 - 20/06/2007 -
Wednesday
Another busy day of meetings this time in
Leicester. No mishaps thankfully.The
main meeting was that of Maddeleines fund where we
discussed implementing a strategy to maintain our campaign to find
Madeleine. It was agreed in principle to appoint a family spokesperson who
will act, not just for Kate and I, but also on
behalf of the extended family who have been liasing
with the media. This appointment will take a lot of strain off family
members who have been putting in such massive efforts to help find
Madeleine.
We are delighted with the response to the 50th day
balloon launch which will truly be a global event. There will be a few
variations to the release of balloons however. In
Ventura, Southern California, 50 white doves
will be released and in
Afghanistan kite racing, an activity
banned under the Taliban, will be the order of the day.
Arrived back
in Praia
da Luz this evening and it was great to see Kate
and the Kids, even though I was only away for a day and a half.
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Passenger
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Day 47
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WALLET
Days 47
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57
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London
Day47
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Day 47 - 19/06/2007 -
Tuesday
Flew in to
London
to for a series of meetings.
Helped a passenger on the flight who collapsed. He
was ill enough to require a full assessment on arrival and went off to
hospital in an ambulance.
Unfortunately shortly after arriving in
London
I had my wallet stolen which meant I was running late.
I did manage to get to all my meetings which ran late into the evening. We
had very good discussions regarding sustaining the search for Madeleine long
term. The role for Kate and I in the campaign will
not be nearly be so public. We have to balance any campaigning in the search
for Madeleine with protecting Sean and Amelie and
making sure their privacy is protected.
We are exploring the use of
new media and using local advertising, particularly in
Europe. There will of course be event
driven media exposure such as the balloon launch on Friday 22nd. There are
several other very good ideas being developed and a few large companies are
willing to help us.
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Day
46 - 18/06/2007 - Monday
Kate and I got the respone we wanted after speaking to the Portuguese ploice
today. We are assured that no criticism of our actions on the night Madeline
disappeared was intended.
There has been a good response to our
planned balloon release for Madeleine and other missing children on Friday
and we are confident that over 50 countries will be represented.
The
twins have really enjoyed seeing family who have been visiting us for the
last 3 days- it has passed very quickly. Hopefully the next time we see them
it will be with Madeleine. |
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Day 45 - 17/06/2007 -
Sunday
Kate and I managed an early morning run before church.
The first event of our longer term
campaign will be on Friday 22nd June- this will mark the 50th day Madeleine
will be missing. We will be launching green and yellow balloons from at
least 50 centres worldwide to mark the fact that we are still searching as
are other parents of missing children. Countries that are partcipating so
far are Argentina, El Salvador, USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, The Netherlands,
Germany, Portugal (Kate and I in Praia da Luz), Spain, South Africa, Kenya,
United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. . Any other
countries that wish to partcipate can download information from the website.
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Jon Corner
Day 44
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Zoo
Day 44
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Day
44 - 16/06/2007 -
Saturday
Kate and I dropped Jon at the
airport this morning and picked up some more friends/family who have come
out to see us, but particularly the twins. They were certainly happy to see
our visitors! After lunch we headed off to the local zoo. Relatively quiet
on the campaign front today as it is a family day. Tomorrow we will announce
one or two planned events to keep Madeleines disappearnace high profile.
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Day
43 - 15/06/2007 -
Friday
The good news today is that the search in response to
the letter in the Telegraaf did not find evidence of Madeleine. We still
belive that Madeleine is alive. We have made some real progress deciding on
campaign strategy. There is a huge amount of goodwill from people who want
to help us find Madeleine and we have some concrete offers of support and
are trying to finalise details before releasing them.
Tomorrow will be a
family day. |
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Day
42 - 14/06/2007 -
Thursday
Six weeks since Madeleine disappeared. We believe
Madeleine is alive and I am glad to say that following yesterday's letter in
the Telegraaf (Netherlands) there has been no evidence that Madeliene is in
the area indicated although there will be further searches tomorrow.
Kate and I picked up a friend from Faro airport who has been instrumental in
helping with the campaign. He has been fantastic, producing the DVD of
Madeleine to ‘Don’t you forget about me’ which has been shown at many
sporting events and concerts as well as producing the look for maddie logo
and various posters. We spent most of the day updating each other and
discussing future campaign ideas. We are getting closer to appointing a
campaign manager who will handle media liaison and coordinating events to
keep Madeleine’s disappearance highly visible |
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Day 41 - 13/06/2007
- Wednesday
Met with Portuguese and British police today
to get an update on the investigation. We were reaasured that information
continues to come in, and we continue to pray for a breakthrough.
We were extremely disappointed in the publication of the anonymous letter in
The Telegraaf (Netherlands) claiming to know where Madeleine is buried.
Although all information will be taken seriously, we were very upset that
the credibility of this letter had not been examined and, more importantly,
published before the Portuguese police had an opportunity to investigate the
claim, and search the area if appropriate without massive media attention.
We feel strongly that this was an irresponsible piece of journalism and even
if it were true is insensitive and cruel.
One can imagine how upsetting it is for Kate and I to hear of such claims
through the media and if every piece of information was published like this
there would be nothing else in the newspapers.
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Morocco
Day 39-40
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Overturned Lorry
Day 40
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Day 40 - 12/06/2007 -
Tuesday
DAY GERRY USED
Day
39 -12/06/2007
We finished off our trip to
Morocco
with a private visit to the minister for religious affairs this morning. He
is an academic, senior cleric and adviser to the King of Morocco. We
explained to him that although we are Roman Catholic we have received
messages of support and prayers from all religious groups. Leicester, where
we live, is extremely diverse culturally with a large proportion of Muslims
and there were prayers for Madeline throughout
Leicester on Sunday. We asked the minister
if prayers could be said for Madeleine and other missing children in
Morocco. He told us
that people were praying for her and again emphasised that if Madeleine is
in
Morocco
they would find her. En route to the airport a lorry had overturned blocking
the exit from the motorway. The Moroccan people dealt with this in a very
calm and relaxed manner, which we have found is a very engaging aspect of
their character. Arriving back in Praia da Luz it
was great to see Sean and Amelie. I think they
were happy to see us although have been very well looked after as usual. We
have no more trips planned for the immediate future and will spend the next
few days taking stock. Tonight we have also gone to the church for prayers,
as it is now 40 days and nights since Madeleine was abducted. No child or
parent should have to endure his experience and we prayed that she would be
found safe and well. |
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Morocco
Day 38-39-40
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Rabat
Day 39
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Day 39
-11/06/2007 -
Monday
DAY AND DATE
GERRY USED
Day
38 -12/06/2007
We spent the day in Rabat
meeting 3 child welfare groups, the minister for interior and the chief of
police. We had little knowledge of Morocco before coming here and have
learned what a family orientated and child loving society it is. Everyone
has been incredibly sympathetic and said they will do everything to help us
find Madeleine. As well as the meetings there was a very touching experience
outside the National Observatory for Chidren's Rights. As we pulled up in
the car there were about 150 children waving posters of Madeleine with the
words above and below a picture of her:
'All Moroccan Children Are
With You Madeleine- Madeleine: Back Home'. They were singing
and cheering Madeleine's name and shouting 'coeur', Heart. This whole experience was
uplifting and enlightening at the same time in that we had no concept that
so many children in Morocco would know of Madeleine and also be internet-
friendly. It is just as likely that a child will spot Madeleine and alert a
responsible adult. The whole world really has changed and is a lot smaller
in this computer age. If Madeleine is in Morocco we have no doubt that she
will be found.
We did a couple of interviews for ITV and Sky and
followed up our Newspaper interviews focussing on a change in the phase of
the campaign. We confirmed that there will be a period of reflection before
we decide on what is the best role for Kate and I. The campaign and the
search for Madeleine will continue and with everyone's help we will find
her. So please stay with us. |
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20 Seater Plane
Day 38
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Morocco
Day 38-39-40
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Day 38- 10/06/2007 -
Sunday
We
attended mass this morning and the Bishop had sent a very nice message
that he and everyone else was praying for Madeleine. He also said that
our attitude in this time of adversity was an example for others.
Contrary to some of the headlines in the Sunday papers the campaign to
find Madeleine will not ease up. Kate’s and my role will be different
after
Morocco compared to the last 3
weeks. As I said earlier we will reflect on the investigation, what the
campaign has achieved and where we will be best directed. We will be
less evident in the media, at least for a few days, unless there is a
breakthrough in the investigation. First of all we have
Morocco. We drove up to
Lisbon late this afternoon to catch a flight to
Casablanca where embassy
officials will meet us. We were surprised to learn that a 20 seat
propeller plane was sent instead of the larger aircraft. Luckily Kate,
Clarence and I got squeezed on although we were certainly rather
apprehensive about flying on such an aircraft- it reminded us of some of
the internal flights we took in New Zealand in the mid 90’s. The meeting
in
Rabat
will follow a similar itinerary as to the European visits. We will meet
with the ambassador and his staff, two children’s charities, the
interior minister and possibly the chief of police. We will do two
interviews for the main TV stations and the press conference will be
last. I am sure we will be asked about the Marrakech siting which has been extensively reported in the press. I should
be able to get some more details of this from ITV, who interviewed the
witness, and hopefully the justice minister to find out what enquiries
were made by the local police |
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Sagres Beach
Day 37
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Suspect
Day 37
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Day 37 - 09/06/2007 - Saturday
DATE GERRY USED
Day 37
- 11/06/2007
Kate and I had a slightly busier day on the media front than
expected. We did a short press interview for the Irish Sunday papers,
mainly to thank the Irish for their fantastic level of support. We
followed that with one for the British Sundays which is likely to be the
last one we do for a while. We talked about our pain of not having
having Madeleine for such a long time and for our need to grieve, which
occurs mainly in private. We also talked about how after Morocco we will
have to spend some time reflecting both emotionally, and also how best
the campaign can be taken forward. What we want to ensure is that the
campaign has a psoitive effect on finding Madeleine.
After this
we headed down to Sagres which is the very most southwestern tip of
Portugal. There is a very nice beach and we had lunch with the family.
After returning from the beach we did the Irish version of
Crimewatch-‘Crimecall’. There are a lot of Irish tourists in and around
Praia da Luz and although the awareness of Madeleine’s disappearance in
Ireland is extremely high, we want to ensure that everyone is aware of
the appeal and we want the Irish public to come forward with photographs
of people who they do not know who were in and around Praia da Luz in
the 2 weeks leading up to the 3rd May. The address to upload photographs
is: to www.madeleine.ceopupload.com .
We have also asked for people to contact their local police if they have
seen a man matching the description of the suspect carrying a child seen
around the time of Madeleine’s abduction. He is 30-40 years, 1.70-1.80m
(5’7”-11”), caucasian and was wearing a dark jacket, beige or mustard
coloured trousers with dark shoes. No major news on the investigation
front- we still believe it is just a single phone call away.
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Berlin
Day 34-35-36
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Amsterdam
Day 34-35-36
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Sea Bass
Day 36
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Day 36 - 08/06/2007 -
Friday
Quieter day today.
This was a good chance to catch up with campaign e-mails and phone calls
after the trips to
Berlin
and
Amsterdam. At lunchtime we
went to the release of 1000 yellow balloons at the beach carrying cards
with Madeleine’s picture on it and information in 5 different languages
including arabic.
There were similar launches in
Manchester and
Madrid. The event was
organsied by the Sun who, like almost all of the media,
have been incredibly supportive. I told Nick, the Sun
journalist, that we are happy to support all strategies which increase
the chances of finding Madeleine. Later in the afternoon we went down to
the beach and had dinner in one of the restaurants which Sean and
Amelie
really enjoyed. Sean, in particular has acquired a taste for sea-bass!
Kate and I did a short interview for BBC East Midlands to thank everyone
for their support and it is likely that this will be shown around most
of the regions, certainly Northwest and BBC Scotland. Kate and most of
the family headed down to the church for the regular Friday night vigil
but I was just too shattered.
Tommorrow will largely be a family day although I am not
sure what we will be doing yet. |
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Berlin
Day 34-35-36
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Amsterdam
Day 34-35-36
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Green & Yellow
Hands
Day 35
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Day 35
- 07/06/2007
DATE GERRY USED
Day 35
- 06th June 2007
The press
conference, meetings and appeal on TV today in
Amsterdam all seemed to go well. I doubt there
are many people left in
Europe who do not know of Madeleine’s
disappearance and hopefully everyone who has information will have come
forward to the police. Today was particularly difficult for Kate and
I because of the year we spent in
Amsterdam
with Madeleine. We have many friend s still there and could never have
imagined coming back without her in such dreadful circumstances.
Afterwards we caught with a friend of mine who was attending a medical
conference in Amsterdam and a friend who helps run a playgroup that we
attended We arrived back in Portugal and managed to spend some time with
Sean and Amelie. We then drove to the concert
in
Lagos in aid of Madeleine, which is the
first large public event in
Portugal that I know of supporting
the campaign. It was interesting mix of jazz, blues, orchestra and rap!
We were presented with a painting with green and yellow hands from a
class of
schoolkids- hands of hope. There was a short speech and Kate
thanked tke local community for their support.
The amount of media coverage Madeleine’s disappearance has received is
phenomenal. After
Morocco |
