0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains some strong language
0:00:06 > 0:00:08- Do you want a wee drink? Cheers. - Cheers.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11THEY CONVERSE INAUDIBLY
0:00:17 > 0:00:21It was a terrible thing that a family should be split up the way it was.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23And what happened to these kids, that was criminal.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28This is just one family and look at the mess.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36The tragedy of the whole thing is that all those missing years,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38if only we knew about each other.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42I would say, we were...
0:00:43 > 0:00:47..ignored and we were cheated out of getting to know
0:00:47 > 0:00:49all our brothers and sisters.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54When you look at everything that has happened to us all,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58everything that happened to everybody, it's so strange.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01You know, how did they get away with that in them days?
0:01:01 > 0:01:04We were all taken from our mother,
0:01:04 > 0:01:06we were all separated from each other,
0:01:06 > 0:01:11scattered all over Scotland and we were lied to for years.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37My name is Bernard Clark.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42I was born the 8th of August 1954 in Greenock.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53My name is Joan Clark.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58My birthday is 21/05/'53.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Joan was always my protector,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07if you want to call her that.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10That's Bernard, he's my young brother.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12We grew up together. He is a character.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16He winds me up constantly and always has, since we were wee.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23We were removed in 1956 from the family home...
0:02:25 > 0:02:29..because of the state we were in, health-wise.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31It was quite horrific.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38We had a wee sister, Sandra, who was taken away at the same time,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40and she was only four months.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44The only thing I could think of was they didn't want us.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51But as I got older and learned all the different things,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54it was through being poor that they lost us.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07There's newspaper stories about our family in the local library.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11I'll join that and see if I can find this.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14- There we go.- Yes.- Right.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16"June 1956.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19"Greenock mother gets maximum jail sentence.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24"For what the deputy fiscal described as one of the worst cases
0:03:24 > 0:03:28"of child neglect he had encountered."
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Now, that is you, that's me and that's Sandra.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Sandra. Right.
0:03:41 > 0:03:47"She wilfully neglected three children in a manner likely to cause
0:03:47 > 0:03:51"them unnecessary suffering and injury to their health."
0:03:51 > 0:03:56- Right.- "Accused and her family were living in a drinking den.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07"The baby was lying in a foul-smelling pram.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11"The children were in a disgusting state.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15"They were filthy, scantily clad, and their bodies...
0:04:23 > 0:04:27"..and their bodies were infested with head and body lice."
0:04:30 > 0:04:34When I read the paper, I was actually shocked.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38How can you let somewhere go that bad
0:04:38 > 0:04:41that, if you were drinking, you wouldn't notice?
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Reading it, I know it is me and Bernard and Sandra,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48but I have put it away in a box.
0:04:50 > 0:04:51It didn't seem real.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00I can understand why anybody that came into that property and seen
0:05:00 > 0:05:05three kids in that state would have them taken away and put into care.
0:05:07 > 0:05:14"It was scarcely credible that such a disregard and cruel outlook
0:05:14 > 0:05:18"towards young children could be adopted by any person,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21"least of all a mother."
0:05:21 > 0:05:23She didn't have a solicitor,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27she didn't have anybody to stand up for her and,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30quite honestly, when you read the report in the paper,
0:05:30 > 0:05:31they crucified her.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38"'I had no hesitation at all in imposing the maximum sentence
0:05:38 > 0:05:41"of six months' imprisonment,' said Sheriff Wilson."
0:05:49 > 0:05:51It doesn't even feel real.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54It feels like it's somebody's story, but it's somebody else's story.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56- It's as if it is not our story. - I know.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01But I always knew I had a wee sister.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04For some reason, I always knew I had a wee sister.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Sandra was separated from me and Joan.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12Why we were separated, I don't know.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16You would have thought they would have kept us together.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Joan, myself,
0:06:19 > 0:06:24we were fostered out to a Mrs Carr in Greenock.
0:06:26 > 0:06:32Very first memory I have is in the home and there was a big, big, shiny
0:06:32 > 0:06:39table and I was placed on the table and told to walk across the table.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42And the lady's saying to me, "This is your new mum,"
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and that was Mrs Carr.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49I would say, "Mum," and she would say to me, "I'm not your mum.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51"Don't call me Mum, I'm not your mum."
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Regarding her as a mother, I never did that.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01She was a person that put the fear of God into you.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03There was times I was terrified.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07She was a big woman, so if she gave you a slap, you knew about it.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09Bernard was put into bed and he was crying.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17And I was put into bed with him.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21And I says to him, "Don't worry, we'll be all right."
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Joan would stick up for me and she would take the beating,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28rather than her wee brother taking the beating.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35She was strict. I don't ever remember being cuddled.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38I don't ever remember that.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Cos I don't think that was the type of person she was.
0:07:42 > 0:07:43She was always chasing us.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48She was running after us with a poker.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50And she hit the table, she missed,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54and broke her fingers and that is the only reason that I remember it,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56because she broke her fingers.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05As far as I knew, it was just Joan and I.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I was never told about any other brothers and sisters.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Our foster mother kept saying to us, "If you meet anybody, Clark -
0:08:18 > 0:08:21"don't you be going out with anybody called Clark."
0:08:21 > 0:08:23And I went, "Aye, OK."
0:08:35 > 0:08:37First contact came out of the blue.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42It was the year 2011...
0:08:43 > 0:08:45..and a car stopped outside.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51When I met George and Jim, when them two walked into the house,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54nobody had to tell me, I knew when I seen them, even getting out of
0:08:54 > 0:08:56the car before they came to the door,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58that them two were my brothers.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05My name is James McIver Clark, born 19th of March 1947.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Didn't know anything about Jim.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Didn't know anything about George.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16I said, "How many more?"
0:09:18 > 0:09:21When we met, it was as if we knew each other all our lives.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24The feeling that came over me, it was so natural.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25We are family.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31They spent years looking for me and they told me that there was
0:09:31 > 0:09:32a lot more of us.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38I'm 59 years old and I'm finding out for the first time,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41I could have 17, 18 siblings.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50Some had passed away, but there was others they were still looking for.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54My feelings of that day...
0:09:54 > 0:09:57I was amazed
0:09:57 > 0:09:59the number of family that we had...
0:10:00 > 0:10:05..but fucking angry that I was never told about any of these...
0:10:06 > 0:10:11..told any of that information by anybody before.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22George told the story of how he has been looking for his siblings
0:10:22 > 0:10:24and the rest of his family.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32George was committed completely to finding out about everybody.
0:10:33 > 0:10:34The hard work...
0:10:36 > 0:10:40..the research, the graft was all done by George.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45George started this over 40-odd years ago.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50It was a lifetime work, but it must have been a mammoth task.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Trying to find people that didn't exist.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59And he never gave up.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03Even when Inverclyde District Council turned round and says,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05"We don't know anything about them."
0:11:05 > 0:11:09George never took that as an answer,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11because he wanted the truth.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Always George and me were together.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Most of the time, I looked after George cos the parents were too busy
0:11:25 > 0:11:31in the next room or in the pub drinking, and a lot of strangers
0:11:31 > 0:11:34came in and out. We didn't know who was family and who wasn't.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Then the police got involved, we were handed over to the courts.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46George was four and a half and I was six and a half.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49We were only kids.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55George and I came out with two little brown suitcases, then this
0:11:55 > 0:11:57other lad appeared and they said, "That's your brother."
0:11:57 > 0:12:00It's like saying it's raining, it didn't mean anything,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02cos we didn't know him.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04We didn't know that was Tommy.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06We didn't know he was our brother.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25We were put in a car and driven up to the Highlands to be boarded out.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Boarding out was the welfare's way of getting children
0:12:33 > 0:12:34out of the cities.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38They sent kids to the farms in the Highlands,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40where farmers were paid to bring them up.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47It was supposed to get them away from the poverty in the cities
0:12:47 > 0:12:48to a clean upbringing.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56They were put somewhere where they were supposed to have been
0:12:56 > 0:12:58taken care of, to be safe.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01And it didn't happen.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08When we arrived there, it was all nice,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11the wife and the farmer were all nice and friendly,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14and very pleasant, "Have a bit of chocolate,"
0:13:14 > 0:13:16and all this sort of thing.
0:13:16 > 0:13:17This went on for two days.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30And on the third day, she hit me so hard,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33it knocked me out. I was out for hours.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36And that's when it started.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Because Tommy was older,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49they accepted him, cos he could work on the farm.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Because George and I were too small to work on the farm
0:13:52 > 0:13:54and that really annoyed her.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03George and I were helping to clear out this old chicken shed,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07then they came in and threw a couple of old 1940s beds -
0:14:07 > 0:14:10there was no mattresses, it was just potato sacks.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14The wind howled through and we were put in there and that was our
0:14:14 > 0:14:17accommodation for the whole time we were there.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21The cruelty...
0:14:22 > 0:14:24..is a polite word.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26The farmer's wife hated us.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29When this woman beat you, she used anything she could pick up,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33it could be a broom handle, a branch of a tree, an iron bar.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37The amount of beatings, I lost count.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40You could say, on average, every couple of days.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44They'd tie you by your wrists,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48so you were high enough and your toes would barely touch the ground
0:14:48 > 0:14:51and leave you there. You could be screaming, you would have no food.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53This is two or three days at a time sometimes.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55You're just left hanging there.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Sometimes they'd give you a really good smack with the branch of a tree
0:14:59 > 0:15:02and just walk away from you.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Imagine somebody grabbing you by the hair, beating the...
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Excuse the expression, but beating the crap of you, a little child,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10only so...
0:15:16 > 0:15:18I don't see myself now as an adult.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23I see myself as that child, struggling to...
0:15:23 > 0:15:25either live or die.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Because I ran away so much, the police got involved.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47We did find a report from the local police.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52"3rd of March 1957.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57"Farmer called and reported that two orphans, Thomas and James Clark,
0:15:57 > 0:15:58"were missing.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02"Eventually, the boys were located in woods by a local farmer.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05"The boys were quite prepared to go back to the farm...
0:16:06 > 0:16:09"..and they were both clean and well cared for."
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Where did this come from, "We were clean and well cared for"?
0:16:13 > 0:16:15No way.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Only time we were lucky enough to have a bath
0:16:17 > 0:16:19was when it rained heavy.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23And the last bit says, "They were late going home from church
0:16:23 > 0:16:26"and they were afraid to go home."
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Of course we were afraid to go home,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30cos we knew exactly what was going to happen.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32They were evil.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36The police, they'd ask us, you know, "Why did you run away?"
0:16:36 > 0:16:38and stuff like that, and we daren't say anything.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41You'd put your life in your hands if you said anything.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45And at the same time, I didn't trust the police, either.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48So the best thing to do was just...
0:16:52 > 0:16:56There was one incident, I got such a hell of a beating,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59when I was released, I just legged it straight down to the bog area.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15These were old peat bogs, where all the peat was, it was all full of water.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18I wanted to... I wanted it all to stop.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25All I had to do was just move a couple of inches, and I wouldn't be here.
0:17:44 > 0:17:50Some time, 2014, George got in contact with the Sunday Mail,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52and we told the story.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58"The Secret Slaves of Scotland, the Child Slaves of Scotland."
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Maybe lost members of the family would read this...
0:18:05 > 0:18:09..and realise that they were a member of this family,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13that had been searching for years for lost siblings.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24I remember seeing the article, and I didn't read it at the time,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28but my name was in the article.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32So, if I'd read it, I'd have been on the phone to the newspaper to say,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34"I'm one of the brothers."
0:18:38 > 0:18:41My name is Ian MacLean.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47I was born David Fleming Clark on the 17th of January 1952.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04I was adopted at ten months.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08I was adopted through a Salvation Army home...
0:19:09 > 0:19:15..and I had blemishes all over my skin, possibly through neglect.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21This is me and my adoptive mother.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24I'm just about a year and a half old.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29What this photograph tells me is how important it was...
0:19:30 > 0:19:32..for my mother to have a child,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34because they thought they weren't going to have a family.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37And you can see from the expression on my mother's face...
0:19:38 > 0:19:41..how proud she is to have her own son.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46When I look at it, I see my mum.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49I see the only mum that I'd ever known.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51And it wasn't until later, when I was 18,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54that I was told that I was adopted.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59You're struggling with, "Who are you? What happened?
0:19:59 > 0:20:00"Where did I come from?
0:20:00 > 0:20:03"Who are my family? And what are the reasons?"
0:20:03 > 0:20:04And the big question - why?
0:20:08 > 0:20:11My name is Ian Wilson Savage.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15I was born Peter Clark on the 11th of November 1950
0:20:15 > 0:20:17in the town of Greenock.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33A letter come through the letterbox from social services in Greenock.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36It said that there was a family looking for me.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43I had no idea whatsoever that there was another family existed.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50I was lucky, I got adopted,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and my adoption was a fairly good one.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55When I was about six years of age,
0:20:55 > 0:21:00my mother sat me down one day and said to me that I had been adopted,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04and sat and explained what that meant to me.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06I think I just looked at the family I had and thought,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09"Well, that's my real family."
0:21:09 > 0:21:12I didn't really want to know anything about the family,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15because I assumed, you know, again, that they were all dead.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21The doorbell went and I went up to answer the door and there's this guy,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23this man standing there, guy standing there,
0:21:23 > 0:21:24more or less the same age as me.
0:21:26 > 0:21:27So he said to me, "I'm George."
0:21:28 > 0:21:31And there's my brother standing there,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35and it was as if we'd known each other for 60 years.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38There was absolutely no difference, it was just George.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44George achieved his goal.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47He found them two boys.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50I call them boys!
0:21:50 > 0:21:52But he found both of them.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57We were both adopted separately.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02We grew up without knowing anything about each other or, in fact,
0:22:02 > 0:22:03anything about any of the others.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08I remember the day that George walked in, his face was beaming.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10- Aye.- I says, "You've found the other brother."
0:22:10 > 0:22:12He says, "How did you know that?"
0:22:12 > 0:22:15I says, "I can tell by the relief and the excitement
0:22:15 > 0:22:17- "and all the rest of it on your face."- Aye.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27George was the driving force to bring the family together.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31He's such an open person, George, in his own way.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34And he had the information,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37and we were only starting to get to know George when, unfortunately,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39he passed away.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47He was a terrific person to meet, to listen to.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Erm, and...
0:22:53 > 0:22:55..I miss him.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21It's important to me now, because it was important to George.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24It's as if I've been given the responsibility,
0:23:24 > 0:23:29now that George is in a better place, if you want to call it that.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33I've been given the responsibility now to finish it all.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37And I'd love to do it and be able to say, at the end of the day,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40"Well, George, there you go, there's the story finished."
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Greenock is a big part of the family story,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49because that's where everyone was born.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53But then a lot of the family ended up in Dundee.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58I'm going to drop in to an old friend
0:23:58 > 0:24:01of my late brother George's, Janet.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03- Hi, Janet.- Hi, Bernard, come in.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08Janet spent years helping George with his research.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12I remember George telling me that, when he first started all this,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14the amount of time that George spent...
0:24:16 > 0:24:18..on trying to trace everybody.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21He used to be along some days at half past seven in the morning,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23and away till ten o'clock at night.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25THEY LAUGH
0:24:25 > 0:24:28And went we found out that there was 17 to 18 siblings,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30it really took George by surprise.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33All he could say, "I can't believe this, I can't believe this."
0:24:33 > 0:24:36- Aye.- George went to the Inverclyde authorities,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40he asked about you and Joan, and he got told that youse didn't exist.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43That's unbelievable.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47George knew that Joan and I existed.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48And for them to turn round...
0:24:50 > 0:24:54..years later and say we don't exist is absolutely unbelievable.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57He knew there was a Bernard and he knew there was a Joan.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01He was told there was a Sandra,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03but she was adopted and sent to Australia.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Yeah, we were all told that.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07I think the words they used was, "In the future,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10"don't even attempt to try and find her."
0:25:13 > 0:25:18We were always led to believe that Sandra had been adopted
0:25:18 > 0:25:20and emigrated abroad.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27But Sandra had been adopted by a family down in Ayr.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31They lied to us.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36It was a complete made-up story.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Why? Why? What were they trying to achieve?
0:25:45 > 0:25:48When George finally found Sandra...
0:25:50 > 0:25:55..we went down to meet her and her family near Ayr.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00We'd been separated for 57 years.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07She was never told about any of the other siblings.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Sandra couldn't even remember Joan and myself.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17To find out then about all the rest, I mean, she was just overcome,
0:26:17 > 0:26:18and, I would say, with joy.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24A few months after we did get to meet her, she passed away.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37There was another sister in Dundee, Mary Ann.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40She was the older sister.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46I didn't even know about her until George came along.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Hi, Charlie.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56'Mary Ann passed away in 1993.'
0:26:57 > 0:27:02Hi, Gary. 'But I got to know her two sons, Charlie and Gary.'
0:27:03 > 0:27:08Although we've got some information on your mum, Mary, I really want
0:27:08 > 0:27:13- to know why this all happened, you know?- Yeah.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Obviously, there was a darkness some place there, right?
0:27:16 > 0:27:17- Yeah.- Aye.- And, you know,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21words like Greenock and Glasgow become like the bogeyman, you know,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23dinnae go there, dinnae speak about they things.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26And my mother would tell us kind of bits, but again, the attitude was,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29- "You've got to protect the bairns from..."- Of course.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32"This is pretty horrific stuff, we've got to protect the bairns."
0:27:32 > 0:27:36People were judgmental in those days, and my mum always used to say to us about keeping the house clean,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38because the factor would come and take you away from your parents.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41- That's right.- And we thought it was my mum kind of threatening us.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43She would wash our clothes in Domestos, in bleach.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45You went to school stinking of bleach.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50And it was always that story came to you about somebody in the background
0:27:50 > 0:27:52that could take you away.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55She had this real agony around her family being ripped apart,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57because my mum was a pure hero for her family.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Kind of like bringing up bairns wouldn't have been easy in those
0:28:00 > 0:28:03days, either. I think my mum probably drank a lot more and stuff
0:28:03 > 0:28:06like that when she got older, because she was trying to sort of
0:28:06 > 0:28:07bury the demons of the past.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09She lost her family,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12and her family was dear to her.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14See, the most haunting thing for me...
0:28:14 > 0:28:18I remember at the end of my mum's life, two days before she died,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21and people become really reflective at that stage of their life.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25And the thing she always went on to me about was,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27"Try and find out what happened to the wee yins."
0:28:27 > 0:28:29She was meaning our brothers.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32She always had this thing about wanting to find them.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36- Yeah, she did. - And the most harrowing thing is, she never found them.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Mary Ann watched six of her brothers
0:28:45 > 0:28:50being taken from the family home and scattered all over Scotland.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Peter and David were adopted.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01Tommy, Jim and George were all boarded out
0:29:01 > 0:29:04to a farm in the Highlands.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07And there was also Billy, our oldest brother.
0:29:07 > 0:29:14He was sent to a children's home in Aberdeen, on his own.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17The family heard very little of him after that.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Losing all of those brothers
0:29:22 > 0:29:24must have been heartbreaking for Mary Ann.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30I would love to have met Mary,
0:29:30 > 0:29:32because she was the true head of the family.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37She would have been the one that made up for not having...
0:29:39 > 0:29:41..a proper mother and father.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59There's only two that George never found.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Tommy, born in 1945...
0:30:05 > 0:30:09..and Andrew, born in 1957, who's the youngest.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15But he lost contact with them for such a long time.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18That would put a final chapter to his story,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21to put an end to the complete Clark...
0:30:23 > 0:30:26I don't want to call it a story... History.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29With Tommy, with Andrew, with...
0:30:30 > 0:30:32I don't know if I'll ever meet these people,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36because they're gone, as far as we're concerned, we can't find them.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41Right, this is the website on the internet.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46The only photo we've got of Andrew - in his army uniform.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50And we just let him know that, if he's out there,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53to somehow make some sort of contact with us
0:30:53 > 0:30:55because we're looking for him.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58And we do that every year on his birthday.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00But so far we've never had a reply.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15That's you there. I'll leave you to it.
0:31:20 > 0:31:26I am 64 years of age and I have never seen my adoption court papers.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31This, for me, is quite an emotional thing, to find out about my past.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40"Adoption order of Ian MacLean,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44"birth name David Fleming Clark.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46"Entry to be marked with the word 'adopted'."
0:31:52 > 0:31:56This is my birth parents signing away their responsibility
0:31:56 > 0:31:58and giving me over for adoption.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05"Elizabeth O'Brien Clark, being the mother of said child,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09"hereby state that I understand that the effect of the order will be
0:32:09 > 0:32:13"permanent, to deprive me of my parental rights..."
0:32:16 > 0:32:19I just want to pause, just for a second.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23I'm trying...
0:32:23 > 0:32:26In those few moments, I'm trying to picture what it would be like...
0:32:27 > 0:32:28..for a mother...
0:32:30 > 0:32:31..to give up a child.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36I don't know how she coped.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38I genuinely don't.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43It's easy to blame the mother.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45I've always tried to put myself back, when I've read the story,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47back into the mother and father's shoes.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50They obviously neglected the children. For what reason, though?
0:32:53 > 0:32:59George told me, when I met George and Jim for the first time, 2011,
0:32:59 > 0:33:01was we also had six siblings,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05six youngsters, young brothers and sisters,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09that died at very, very young ages.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13There was John, there was Isabel, there was Ruth, there was Anna,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16there was Elizabeth and there was Peter.
0:33:19 > 0:33:20Some of them died very, very...
0:33:20 > 0:33:23Within days of just being born.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25Erm, and that, in itself...
0:33:27 > 0:33:29..points to the sort of conditions that they were left in.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38For my mum to lose six, I realised what she'd went through.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45When I was first married, I lost one child.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52It's been 40...43 years...
0:33:53 > 0:33:55..since my daughter died.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05And it still kills me.
0:34:08 > 0:34:09It never leaves you.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14And I think anybody would have turned to drink...
0:34:15 > 0:34:17..to forget.
0:34:20 > 0:34:21But you never forget.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38They died, some of them were only a few days old,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42and they're all buried in Greenock cemetery,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46which I've walked through on many occasions
0:34:46 > 0:34:48and I didn't even know they were there.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52So this is where they're buried.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53You walk in here...
0:34:53 > 0:34:56And all you've got is this, the marker.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59If you read it, "In loving memory, rest in peace."
0:34:59 > 0:35:01It doesn't tell you anything.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05- Our wee siblings, where are they? - Historically, this is a pauper's grave.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08It's a pauper's grave. Anybody that was poor was dumped here. It's like
0:35:08 > 0:35:12a piece of bloody waste ground, that's what it's like.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15When you think, the struggle we had of finding each other
0:35:15 > 0:35:19in the first place, and now we're having a struggle even finding
0:35:19 > 0:35:23where our own siblings are buried.
0:35:23 > 0:35:24It's a...
0:35:24 > 0:35:26- You just...- It's sad.
0:35:28 > 0:35:29I find it shameful.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33Not only shameful, painful.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38There's a deep sadness for the kids that are buried here.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43A deep sadness for the family that didn't have an opportunity
0:35:43 > 0:35:44to say goodbye.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49That, to me, is important.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04One of the biggest struggles we've had as a family
0:36:04 > 0:36:07is getting information from the authorities.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Simple as that, just information on our lives.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22In the case of George and Jim...
0:36:23 > 0:36:29..it took them four-and-a-half years to get access to their files.
0:36:29 > 0:36:34I remember George telling me that one of the social workers
0:36:34 > 0:36:38said to him, "Just forget it and go and get a life."
0:36:43 > 0:36:45We felt, most of the time, that we were getting fobbed off.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49Their favourite saying, "This is going to upset you,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51"you shouldn't live in the past."
0:36:51 > 0:36:52They love saying that.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57It's going to open old wounds. I said, "The wounds are open anyway,
0:36:57 > 0:36:58"they've always been open."
0:37:00 > 0:37:02This is not just one family,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04there are hundreds of families being put through the system
0:37:04 > 0:37:07and left in a mess.
0:37:07 > 0:37:08It's got to stop.
0:37:20 > 0:37:21I hate paperwork.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27The first meeting I had with Inverclyde District Council,
0:37:27 > 0:37:33the idea was for me to go there and actually view any files they had
0:37:33 > 0:37:34on myself, personal files.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36It is quite a large bundle,
0:37:36 > 0:37:42but what they told me was that, because the file had references
0:37:42 > 0:37:46in there to my sister Joan, I couldn't actually view the file.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49You couldn't even look over,
0:37:49 > 0:37:54to maybe have a wee glance, because the file was put there,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57the person sat there, and I sat here.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Just going through the file, writing down,
0:38:00 > 0:38:02going through the file,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05writing that down, going through the file, writing that down...
0:38:05 > 0:38:10And she handed me that and said, "Well, that's your story,
0:38:10 > 0:38:13"that's your record of your life in care."
0:38:13 > 0:38:1815 years. They've basically given you handwritten crap,
0:38:18 > 0:38:19cos that's what it is.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24I don't understand why they're withholding all that info,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27all that... What does it mean...?
0:38:27 > 0:38:30I mean, it means nothing to them, but it means a hell of a lot to me.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37Asking a simple question like, "Why was I taken into care?"
0:38:37 > 0:38:39What's wrong with that question?
0:38:39 > 0:38:41It's as if I'm doing something wrong, you know,
0:38:41 > 0:38:43you actually feel as if you're doing something wrong
0:38:43 > 0:38:45by asking that question.
0:39:07 > 0:39:13I'm pulling together documentation here for a human rights solicitor.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17He is going to, hopefully,
0:39:17 > 0:39:22give us advice on anything else we can do to access information
0:39:22 > 0:39:23on our family.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29Under the Data Protection Act, you can ask for information
0:39:29 > 0:39:34about yourself, but they are not allowed to divulge information
0:39:34 > 0:39:35about anybody else.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39In certain circumstances councils hide behind the Data Protection Act?
0:39:39 > 0:39:42Yes, they hide behind it but also they have to watch themselves.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46'I think it's very sad that families can be kept apart
0:39:46 > 0:39:49'and not know that other members of the family exist.'
0:39:49 > 0:39:52You should have a right, somehow, to know that you had a family,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55that should be your choice as you get older.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58There must be documentation available that would help us
0:39:58 > 0:40:00trace these people, or would that, again, come under...?
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Well, there might well be.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06I suppose all you could say to the social work department would be,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09"Would you be prepared to let us have copies of any documentation
0:40:09 > 0:40:11"which might assist us tracing these people?"
0:40:11 > 0:40:13You know, they can easily turn round and say,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16"Well, I'm sorry, there's no other file."
0:40:16 > 0:40:17And you're stuck.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Here we are, 2016, and we've not really got any rights.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31You know, it's crazy to me.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38What the system has done to this family is pulled the family apart...
0:40:39 > 0:40:41..in unmentionable ways.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45When you look at what Jim is like now,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47when you look at Bernard, you look at Joan,
0:40:47 > 0:40:49they've all come through traumas of one thing or another.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54You can see the hurt on their faces, you can see it with Jim,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57when they talk about these stories, they go into a dark place.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01When I was 15...
0:41:03 > 0:41:05..I got involved with drugs.
0:41:05 > 0:41:06I started taking drugs
0:41:06 > 0:41:09because it was the only way I could get closure.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12I couldn't stand anybody in authority telling me anything.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18I was homeless a lot, I slept rough for quite a few years.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22I used to do things to get put in jail, so I'd get a bit of rest.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25I wanted to destroy myself.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29HE SIGHS
0:41:36 > 0:41:38I mean, how could I...?
0:41:38 > 0:41:42I had a, and I still do to a certain extent, have a problem with alcohol.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47And I did get in to a lot of trouble. I mean, I've been to
0:41:47 > 0:41:49prison cos of fighting.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52I lost everything, I lost my job...
0:41:53 > 0:41:56..I lost my family, and that all stemmed from...
0:41:58 > 0:42:00..my early years over in Ireland.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09Mrs Carr used to take us on holidays, school holidays,
0:42:09 > 0:42:10we'd go across to Ireland.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17The first memories I have of it, I must've been about six or seven,
0:42:17 > 0:42:18it didn't happen right away.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22It only happened on certain nights and it seemed to be weekend nights.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Cos I'd be the only one in these bedrooms,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30everybody else would be away out for the night.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32I remember being terrified.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34You're in pitch-black.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41As you get older, you begin to realise this isn't right.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45There's something going on here, this shouldn't be happening to me.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51When I got to the age of about 13, 14, I refused to go...
0:42:53 > 0:42:56..and there was a reason for that.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00Erm, so...
0:43:03 > 0:43:06It's not something I really speak about.
0:43:06 > 0:43:07- Were you abused?- Mm-hm.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25So when I became a father, I didn't know how to react,
0:43:25 > 0:43:29I didn't know anything about bringing up kids or what a father
0:43:29 > 0:43:31should do, because I've never...
0:43:41 > 0:43:43I've never been able to hug.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49I've never hugged my kids.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52But they've accepted that.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56But it hurts.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13So great you've met these people,
0:44:13 > 0:44:15it's so great you've now got brothers and sisters and you can sit
0:44:15 > 0:44:18and talk and talk about things that happened in the past
0:44:18 > 0:44:21and find out about each other.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24What's it like, Jim, coming back after all these years,
0:44:24 > 0:44:26- back to the Highlands?- It's strange.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30Jim has really been through a lot.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34He showed me what happened to him, and the places where it happened.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39And, you know, I really think that is a release for him.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47He's got his own personality, Jim.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49I can only put that down to, obviously,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51the trauma that Jim went through.
0:44:59 > 0:45:00Just look at this place,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03you wouldn't believe the horrors that happened across the Highlands.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09The day we got out of there was because of the welfare officers
0:45:09 > 0:45:10turned up unannounced.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13We were standing outside the kitchen window, usual threats -
0:45:13 > 0:45:16if we said anything, they'd batter the hell out of us.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19They passed us, went in the house, came out, didn't say anything,
0:45:19 > 0:45:21just looked at us, went back to the car.
0:45:21 > 0:45:22George held my hand and said,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26"Come on, let's tell them where we were really living."
0:45:28 > 0:45:31He ran up, managed to grab the lad by his trousers,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34dragged the two of them down and showed them
0:45:34 > 0:45:36the shed we lived in.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38They went in, they came out.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42He was crying and she was physically sick.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45And then they went back in the house.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49All hell let loose, shouting and bawling.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Of course we were worried because we didn't know where the hell
0:45:52 > 0:45:55they were going to put us next.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58But the good thing was they got us the hell out of that place.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05- So you look at this, Jim, beautiful.- It is.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Everything I saw was black and white.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12- So there was nothing colourful about the place.- Aye.
0:46:12 > 0:46:13So I didn't see the colour.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18I spent all my time hating these people.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20What a waste of my time,
0:46:20 > 0:46:22- I'm the only one that's paying for it, not them.- Aye.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27Yeah, I feel more at peace.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44They're still looking for Tommy.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49Nobody's heard from him since 1980-something.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53And we're still looking for Andrew.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57We want to find Andrew because he's the only one that grew up
0:46:57 > 0:47:01with the mum and dad. He knows what they look like.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08Andrew was last seen in England so we put adverts in the local papers
0:47:08 > 0:47:10to see if somebody would recognise him.
0:47:21 > 0:47:22My name is Andrew Clark.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26I was born on the 24th of December, 1957.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28I am the youngest of 17.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42As far as I was concerned, I had nobody.
0:47:42 > 0:47:43I was on my own down in England.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52- I like your hair. - Aye, it's a change, isn't it?
0:47:52 > 0:47:55- How are you doing? - Ian, how you doing? All right.
0:47:58 > 0:47:59'The advert worked.'
0:47:59 > 0:48:02There we go... 'We found Andrew.'
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Ah, there it is, there. 'And today we're going to meet him.'
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Andrew was the only sibling that was brought up
0:48:09 > 0:48:11with the mother and father.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29Take a deep breath now, cos we're getting there.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32Jesus, the butterflies are going now.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51THEY CHAT AMONG THEMSELVES
0:48:55 > 0:48:57Jimmy.
0:48:57 > 0:48:58Hi, Andy.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01Jimmy, my God!
0:49:01 > 0:49:03- Long time no see.- And you.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07- You've got to be Joan. - Yes.- Come here.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10- Aw, it's lovely to see you.- And you.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12Well, I can remember you.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15- Bernard.- How you doing?
0:49:15 > 0:49:19I can't remember... Hi.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Absolutely brilliant. My God.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25I can't remember. And you've got to be Ian.
0:49:25 > 0:49:30- That's it, that's it. - Lovely.- Nice to meet you.- A brother.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32My God.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35Christ. For days I was walking round in a bit of a daze,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37- you know what I mean?- I can imagine.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Can I handle this? Am I able...? Do you know what I mean?
0:49:41 > 0:49:43How do you handle something like that?
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Come on. Come on.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51Don't want to brag - I'm the youngest.
0:49:53 > 0:49:54I was basically the same as you.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57It was about two years ago, not even two years ago,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59when I got a knock on the door, basically.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01My head was going like this because it was the whole story.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04After nearly 59 years, to find out you've got brothers and sisters.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07That's what we've all said when we met each other - the missing years.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11We're missing years, and I'm missing brothers and sisters.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13- Aye.- My dad never spoke about it.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16- Nothing was said? You never...? - No. No.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18Whether they did that cos I was the youngest and they didn't...
0:50:18 > 0:50:21Shielding me away from it, I don't know.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24But your father was the spitting image of David Niven.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28- Right.- Small build, and that's...
0:50:28 > 0:50:30He looked, yes, he looked like David Niven.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32- You know what I mean? - What did the mother look like?
0:50:32 > 0:50:34What did your mother look like?
0:50:34 > 0:50:36I have got the only photograph.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38- With you?- You're kidding on. - She looked like Mary?
0:50:40 > 0:50:42- Did she have red hair? - That's Mum and me.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47Good God.
0:50:47 > 0:50:48I would think that was in Greenock.
0:50:48 > 0:50:49That's a cracker.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54That's unbelievable.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01I've kept... I've had that for years.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Well, I didn't know about my mother going to prison.
0:51:08 > 0:51:09Bloody hell.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11What was going on?
0:51:11 > 0:51:16To learn now that all this went on previously is absolutely horrendous.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18Some of the stories were horrific.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23- Absolutely horrific.- We were just torn apart and thrown over Scotland,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26and nobody was told anything about anybody.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30But social services put you people into care - must've had records.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33- They must've had the information. - They held them back,
0:51:33 > 0:51:34they held all the information back.
0:51:34 > 0:51:35See, that's totally wrong.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39The authorities weren't interested in giving you any of that information.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42It's such a sad story, such a horrible story,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44but it's got the happy ending, because here we're all sitting now.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46- We're here.- We are here. - That's right.- We're here.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48I think, after all the years, it's amazing,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51the work that you've gone through, George has gone through,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53and suddenly we're here.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56- Aye.- It's a weird feeling.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58- Oh, it is.- Cos I thought I was on my own.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00But suddenly now I've got family.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04But, eh, I'm here.
0:52:04 > 0:52:05Oh, aye.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10I nearly walked out, to be honest with you.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12I had to bite my lip.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14I thought, "I'm here, I've got to do this.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16"This has got... Once-in-a-lifetime.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18"It's got to be their Andy, hold yourself together,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21"and get in there."
0:52:21 > 0:52:23Definitely a big shock.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26But to learn...
0:52:28 > 0:52:32..what they've gone through is absolutely unbelievable.
0:52:32 > 0:52:33- This is Greenock, eh?- Aye.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36It's as though there's lights everywhere, you know?
0:52:38 > 0:52:40It's weird, it is. It's weird, aye.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44I've got to say I've had a lot of bad days in my life,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48and I've had a lot of good days, but this is one of the best.
0:52:48 > 0:52:49Put it that way.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58The picture that Andrew's got, she's really smart,
0:52:58 > 0:53:00and wee Andrew, standing beside her.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04She's now human. She is actually a person.
0:53:06 > 0:53:11When Andrew was about three years old, the mum and dad moved to Dundee,
0:53:11 > 0:53:15and that's where they stayed for the rest of their lives.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21That's Andrew that's with her, and he's, what, two, three years old?
0:53:21 > 0:53:24So you're talking about a few years after we were taken into care,
0:53:24 > 0:53:29and if my mother had been as bad as what the newspaper reports made her
0:53:29 > 0:53:32out to be, she certainly wouldn't have looked like that.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43We still don't know what the father looks like,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47but we have a picture of my mother, and she's quite a lady.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00How's things, Charlie?
0:54:00 > 0:54:05'The last couple of days to me has been one hell of an eye-opener.
0:54:05 > 0:54:10'It has been overwhelming, and it's still...'
0:54:10 > 0:54:12I'm still numb a bit.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17I didn't get a chance to meet Andy at the reunion,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21but I got an opportunity to meet Andy the next day when we
0:54:21 > 0:54:24brought the whole family together, and that was fantastic.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27- In for a big hug...- Aye.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30He's down there - that's him. Well, we'll introduce you, then.
0:54:30 > 0:54:31Aye. There you go.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33- You OK?- I'm fine, aye.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35- This is Ian.- Ian.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37- Pleased to meet you.- And you.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40I've waited a long time for this.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43I only knew about you two years ago.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46What a joy to meet him on the Sunday, what a joy.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48What a gentleman.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50And that's when I lost it.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53Come here.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56Oh, dear.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58I'm glad we've got you.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01That's the main thing, eh?
0:55:01 > 0:55:04- That's the main thing. - I'm glad you're here.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06I don't usually come to tears, but I can't help it.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14It's just knowing that finally we're all together.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Everybody feels apprehensive
0:55:16 > 0:55:18when they go to meet folk that they don't know,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22but there is a connection there, and the connection is the blood.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24Aye. Oh, dear.
0:55:27 > 0:55:32When you get all the aunties, the uncles, the cousins, the nieces,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35the nephews, you get everybody together -
0:55:35 > 0:55:37we're one heck of a size of a family.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39That's Michael, look.
0:55:39 > 0:55:40- Where?- Michael. Wave.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Still got the blond hair?
0:55:43 > 0:55:47- Ah, still got the blond hair. - Do you know what I mean, aye?
0:55:47 > 0:55:51Hi, everybody, I'm going to tell you a wee story.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54I think we'll need to really go back.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56Two people got together.
0:55:56 > 0:56:01A William Clark meets a wee lassie called Elizabeth.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05These two got married in 1935.
0:56:05 > 0:56:06The result is you lot.
0:56:19 > 0:56:24Today I want to dedicate this family gathering to a miracle worker...
0:56:25 > 0:56:27..and his name was George.
0:56:35 > 0:56:41I still cry when I think about him, because he's done so much,
0:56:41 > 0:56:43and the sadness is he's no' here...
0:56:45 > 0:56:46..any more.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53This is what he wanted - he wanted to find everybody.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58We'll have a good toast, then, to the one who caused it all.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Let's all have a good, big cheer to George.
0:57:01 > 0:57:02- That's right.- To George!
0:57:02 > 0:57:04ALL: To George.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12There's a bit of sadness, too, that he hasn't found Tommy.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Yeah, it's a pity we could never find Tommy.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21But you never know. Maybe one day we'll get a phone call.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23Let's hope.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Suddenly, I've got family.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30I've got brothers and sisters that I never knew existed.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34I was down in England on my own, thinking that was going to be it.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37But now I'm here. I always wanted to come back to Scotland,
0:57:37 > 0:57:41always said, when I was 60, I'd come back to Scotland,
0:57:41 > 0:57:43but now I'm definitely coming back.
0:57:43 > 0:57:44I have family.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52I think you've just got to look round the family and see, you know,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55they've all done well for themselves,
0:57:55 > 0:57:57considering the problems we've all had.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03They split our family up completely,
0:58:03 > 0:58:05and to isolate them from each other -
0:58:05 > 0:58:08it should never, ever happen to anybody.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12What kind of life would I have had if we'd have all stayed together?
0:58:12 > 0:58:14Would things have turned out better?
0:58:14 > 0:58:16Who knows?
0:58:16 > 0:58:18But we never had the chance.
0:58:22 > 0:58:26I learned - just remember the good things.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28The bad things only pull you down.
0:58:30 > 0:58:34And with meeting all these wonderful people that I never knew,
0:58:34 > 0:58:36has raised me up.
0:58:36 > 0:58:37Mm-hm.