THE family of Basingstoke schoolboy Joshua Kemp must have had a terrible night on Monday as they waited for news of their missing son.

As reported in today’s Gazette, a huge search effort to locate the 11-year-old was conducted after he failed to return home after leaving Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College mid-afternoon.

It must have been incredibly traumatic as the hours passed, darkness fell, and there was still no sign of Joshua.

Hampshire Constabulary posted an appeal on its Facebook page, and within hours it had been shared by thousands of people.

Whilst this story, thankfully, has a happy ending and Joshua was found safe and well the following morning, it was incredible to witness the community response to his disappearance.

Members of the public, many complete strangers to the family, saw the appeal on Facebook and took it upon themselves to wrap up warm, grab a torch and head outside in the rain to search for the lad.

As the hours ticked away, lists of places that had been checked appeared on social networking sites, as people gave up their time to search throughout the night in pairs, groups or alone in an attempt to find Joshua and bring him home to his family.

Perhaps it was the picture of him, showing a happy and smiling boy, which prompted people to respond in such a selfless way.

We don’t know the circumstances surrounding Joshua’s disappearance – where he was or why he was missing.

But one thing is certain – in times of trouble, the Basingstoke community can clearly be relied upon to help out.

And social media has become an invaluable tool in helping to coordinate such a tremendous response.

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