A son’s voyage

A very touching story about a son's voyage to commemorate the disappearance of his father at sea. David lost his father when he was 6, the age where boys idolize their dad. He and his family never got closure and he is doing this to try to close the circle. My own father died when I was in my 20s and although I had time with him to come to terms with it in his last few months, it's not something you ever get over. I was very moved by David's story.

DAVID Bemand was six years old when his father Eric was lost at sea and declared "missing, presumed dead".

Now aged 46, David is planning a poignant act of closure on a tragedy that devastated his Herefordshire family.

In June, at the 40th anniversary of his father's departure from Newquay on the Welsh coast, he will set off on a similar voyage from the same harbour - a 1,200 mile round trip to A Coruña in north-west Spain. Read on