Walsall Road in Darlaston, where Michael Syrett lived. Image from Google Streetview.

Way back on the 13th August 2014, I published a very sad appeal from the Walsall Council Environmental Health Team who were attempting to locate any remaining family of Michael Syrett, who died a few days earlier.

Michael lived alone in Darlaston, where he had also been a teacher until his retirement.

Sadly, although lots of people knew this apparently talented musician (and a fair few contacted me following my post on the matter), no family were located. Yesterday Friday, 26th August 2014), Walsall Council issued the following statement, thanking the public for their help in the matter:

Thank you for help to find the family of deceased former teacher

Local residents have been thanked for their help with the search for family members of a recently deceased man.

Environmental health officers have been unable to locate any relatives of Mr Michael Syrett of 154 Walsall Road, Darlaston who passed away in his home on Saturday 9 August.

He was born in Wales and moved to Darlaston to train as a teacher. He taught at Darlaston Comprehensive School and was retired at the time of his death.

Mr Syrett was never married. Both of his parents died in the 1990s and he had no siblings.

David Elrington, Area Manager Environmental Health, said: ‘We would like to thank everyone who came forward to share information about Mr Syrett’s family.

‘We have been unable to locate any relatives so the council will be making the funeral arrangements.

‘We will share the details of the funeral as soon as we have them.’

Although heart-wrenchingly sad, this does indicate the diversity of tasks that Environmental Health have to fulfil. I thank them for their dedication, professionalism and care.

Of course, if any member of the Syrett family does perchance read this, the Council would still appreciate you getting in touch. You can find details of how to do so in my original post.

If anyone would prefer not to contact the council directly for whatever reason, email me at BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot come and I’ll pass any messages on. 

As soon as a funeral date is announced, I’ll post it up.