A 76-year-old Alcester man suffering from Alzheimer's disease has been found safe and well after being reported missing to the police.
Edward Hemming, known as Ted, disappeared at around 6.30pm on Friday September 26 from Meadow View Residential Care Home where he had been staying on a temporary basis while his carer was away.
Alcester residents, nearby Search and Rescue teams, the police and family members including his three children joined forces to look for Ted, and he was found 21 hours later in a field near Great Alne by his son Reza and daughter-in-law Jenny.
Reza said: “On behalf of the whole family, we would like to thank the search and rescue team, the police, the whole community of Alcester, friends and family and people we don’t even know who helped in the search for our father.”
Ted’s oldest son Ian said: “All the things I thought about Alcester I now think 20 times over, I grew up in Alcester and the Hemmings are from Alcester and my dad is a very popular and well loved figure. He has never strayed far away from Alcester and if he has he always returned.”
Jenny said:"I have known Ted for best part of 20 years and he is in some ways like my own dad, I love him just as much.
"Ted is the most amazing, kind, gentle, charismatic man that I have ever met, loved by everyone he comes into contact with. He may have Alzheimer's but these characteristics still shine through, Ted has always got a smile and a hug for you, the thought of loosing him was just too much to cope with, that's why we never stopped searching for a moment.
“We searched all through the night and spent all day stopping every person in the street asking if they had seen him. We searched bushes, ditches, fields and all along the river.
“I had quickly gotten rid of any negative thinking throughout the night and day but at this point I began to fear the worst and started thinking how I was going to explain to my girls that grandad was gone.
“My husband then said he just had to go to Great Alne, even though this was not in the area he had last been seen, I can’t explain the feeling we had at this time but it was almost like we were being pulled to him, it was very weird but very, very real.
“I then shouted to Reza to stop and parked up, we stopped with such haste that we stalled the car.
“We then got out the car and just began running before we had even seen him and there he was in a ditch, out of sight.”
Reza added: “I was running across a field with helicopters above my head, screaming dad, dad, dad.
“He looked up and said, ‘What is the matter?’”
Moments after Reza found his father, he took a photo with him and posted it to Facebook along with a status to thank all of the people who helped with the search.
Ted is well-known in the community as a top 60s model who made appearances in the Martini adverts.
The Hemming family are now planning to hold a fundraising event to raise money towards more training for the Search and Rescue teams which helped to find Ted.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here