Episode 10 Family Finders

Families can be driven apart for all manner of reasons.

My mum went away and didn't come back.

And when you do lose touch with your loved ones...

I never saw Kathleen again.

..finding them can take a lifetime.

Wonder where he is, I wonder what he's doing.

You don't really know where to begin.

Especially when they could be anywhere, at home or abroad,

and that's where the Family Finders come in.

Hi, it's the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service.

From international organisations...

And there's never been a day when we have never had new enquiries.

..to genealogy detective agencies...

When is it you last had contact with him?

..and dedicated one-man bands.

I like to do the searches that other people can't get,

cos it makes me feel good.

They hunt through history to bring families back together again.

You are my biological dad.

In this series, we follow the work of the Family Finders.

This case came from our Australian colleagues.

Learning the tricks they use

to track missing relatives through time...

I'm 68 years of age,

she's 75 years of age, and we're just starting off.

..and meeting the people whose lives they change along the way.

I said, "Well, this is your younger sister."

It's a miracle.

I was struck speechless and I couldn't stop crying.

It's a proud moment for Dad.

It was the start of finding a family.

For anyone looking to find a long-lost family member, there's

been an explosion of companies across the UK willing to help.

One of the largest such companies is FinderMonkey, based in Leeds.

When people come to us looking for somebody,

we know it means a lot to them, so helping them

find somebody they really want to get back in touch with...

Erm, it's just fantastic.

Earlier this year, they helped a young woman from the Midlands

find her father, who she'd never met.

This is Natalie Barker, who was born in Wolverhampton in 1989.

She was raised by her mother, Penny, who,

after a brief relationship with Natalie's biological father,

lost contact with him after she fell pregnant.

From a young age, you know that he's not quite there,

and when people used to ask me, "What does your dad do?"

it'd be sort of like... "I don't know."

Even as a toddler, Natalie was acutely aware her father was absent.

When people did pictures of their parents,

from primary school age, I didn't get to do that.

You know, I'd just sort of be... "Look, there's Mummy."

You know, just... and didn't have a clue.

In the early '90s, Natalie's mother married.

Her husband became stepfather to Natalie,

and the family moved to London.

It was nice, because he was that father figure.

He took me to school in the mornings on his bike...

..and he also taught me how to ride my bike.

With a father figure in her life, Natalie had found a happy home.

I never felt that I missed out from that point.

He, like, always showed love.

And with the arrival of two half-sisters, life was good.

But despite having a happy childhood,

not knowing her birth father began to have an increasing impact on her.

I think when it did hit me was when I was a teenager.

Natalie's desire to know about her biological father grew,

and by the time she went to university

she was ready to tentatively start the search.

Well, I typed in ways to find my dad, and at first I think

I was a bit nervous and a bit cautious about it.

But just as she plucked up the courage to start her search,

her stepfather died.

It was still quite fresh to everyone,

and to sort of try to find him at that point,

it was a bit too raw to cross that line,

you know what I mean?

So I didn't do it the first time round I saw it.

Out of respect for her stepfather and the rest of the family,

she abandoned the search.

It wasn't until much later that she felt the time was right to

begin the process once more.

I actually just went,

"OK, I've got to do this now. I'll just do it."

Natalie's sole piece of information was that her father's name

was Patrick Norman.

Speaking to her mother, Penny, she also managed to obtain the name

of the street where Penny and Patrick had lived in the '80s,

but when it came to remembering the house number,

Penny's memory was hazy.

She thought it was either number 31 or 13.

So, who is it that you're looking for?

With a name and address,

the team should be able to crosscheck their records.

Head researcher Dave Oates took up the case.

We looked at both numbers

and found nobody matching either the first name or the surname

that she'd provided at either address,

and because she was confident that he'd lived there for a few years,

we were fairly certain she had the wrong address.

Their search had hit a hurdle.

Dave e-mailed Natalie the news.

When I first got that e-mail,

it was sort of a bit of a kick in the teeth.

It was a bit upsetting.

I know for sure she's quite good with dates and things like that.

You know, I didn't quite know what to do at that point.

It was back to the drawing board.

With no solid address, the team had nothing to go on,

but Dave had a brainwave.

We were fairly certain she had the wrong address,

so we asked her to look at the street

and perhaps go in person to visit it with her mum,

who knew the address, to see if she could establish which house it was.

Today, Natalie and her boyfriend, Chris, are retracing the steps

she made with her mother.

They're revisiting the road in Wolverhampton where her mum

and Patrick lived in the late '80s.

Penny believed the house was number 13 or 31,

but the search had drawn a blank.

They hoped the visit would jog Penny's memory.

Well, basically, Mum recognised that pub over there.

-What, that one down there?

-On the corner.

-OK.

The pub was the first clue.

But there was, like, a garage station that she recognised,

cos it was opposite the flat,

so I think it's more down there, actually.

-OK, so shall we head that way?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Natalie's mother hadn't been back to the street in 25 years.

-So, she's having to go through, like, little details of...

-Yeah.

..how she came up the pathway to... Even just the route and things.

Without the house number, there was no starting point to find her dad.

And it was quite scary, actually, cos if...

if she didn't remember, she was kind of like the last hope.

Definitely getting really close.

-Mm-hm.

-Cos we actually came to this point over here, as well.

She literally had to stop and go, "Er... Right, no, we're going back.

"We've got to go back."

-This is the one over here.

-Oh, it's over here?

-Yeah.

-Oh, nice.

-We were really excited when we saw it.

It was just like, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

Then, I was like, "Are you sure?

"Are you sure, Mum? Is this is the right address?"

She was like, "Yeah, this is the right address." And that was...

-So, as soon as she saw it...

-Yeah.

-As soon as she saw it, she knew.

Yeah, she knew straight away.

The magic number was 301, not 31 or 13,

as Natalie's mum had previously thought.

It was...it was like a...

-I don't know, it was a very overwhelming moment.

-Yeah.

-It really was.

-But, like you say, your mum needed to see this...

-Yeah.

-..in order to just get anywhere.

-Yeah, but it was...

It was a big moment, it really was.

With the correct house number and name, the hunt was on,

and back at HQ, the team kicked into action.

Once we had that information, we were able to go back

and look at that address historically, to find out

who was living at that address during the 1980s.

That did give us a name which, although it was Patrick,

was a different surname to what she'd provided.

And then, that enabled us to look further at that person,

to try and find out more details.

The team had found a match on the address from the '80s, but finding

Patrick's current whereabouts was going to prove more difficult.

They had to search through various sources of information,

including national databases and public records.

24 hours later, the team had found Patrick,

and were quick to e-mail the good news to Natalie.

'Straight away, I was on my phone reading it,'

and I was just like, "Oh, my God."

It was amazing. It says,

"Please find below your report in relation to Patrick Norman Poole.

"Our expert researchers have performed several searches

"for this person and can supply you with the following information..."

And then, it told me about my dad's marriage records.

But Patrick hadn't just got married - there was more.

They had children.

Really exciting, cos you just... you're like, "Oh, my God, wow,

"I've got siblings and stuff."

Natalie had a stepsister and a stepbrother.

That automatically was just really exciting.

And then they've got his address in, like,

really capital letters, very bold writing. And you're just like,

"Oh, my God, there it is. I know where he is."

The only thing left for Natalie to do was write a letter -

easier said than done.

The ball's in your court, as it were.

Then that's scary cos you don't know whether to do it or not.

That's the final, sort of, actual push. You know, you don't know...

That's the part where you go, "Do I? Do I do this?"

Natalie plucked up the courage and put pen to paper.

Yeah, I did write the letter in the end, and it was nice.

"Hello, Patrick Blagrove.

"I didn't think this day would come.

"I'm so happy to have finally found you." And I thought...

I looked at the front of the envelope and I said to myself,

"Hang on, is that my writing?

"How come I've sent something to myself?"

Anyway, I opened the letter, and presumed to read the letter.

"My name is Natalie Barker.

"I was born in New Cross." And then it...and the penny dropped.

"No easy way to say it but you are my biological dad.

"I hope you take the time to consider this letter,

"as it may be one of the hardest letters to write,

"by all means, and to let you know whether or not you would want to

"build on some kind of relationship within the near future."

I actually thought this day would never come.

And then, from then on, I was just looking forward to seeing her.

With the help of the professionals,

Natalie had finally tracked down her biological father.

But for our next case, things weren't so simple.

The story starts 280 miles north, in the West of Scotland.

This is Hugh McGarvey. He was born in Glasgow in 1947.

I was born and raised in the East End of Glasgow,

in a place called Shettleston.

When Hugh was ten, the family moved a mile up the road to Barlanark.

Along with my two younger brothers, William and Daniel,

and I stayed there until I met Margaret.

In 1968, Hugh met his childhood sweetheart.

They were married four years later.

I married Margaret on the 26th of June, 1972.

Erm, don't ask me how many years that is together.

I remember the anniversaries but I can't remember the years.

We've got three children - Victoria, who will be 40 this year,

Christopher's 37

and Gillian, who's 36,

and I've got one grandchild.

Life is good at the moment and I'm quite happily retired as well.

Cup of tea?

Hugh's worked hard over the years

to provide for his family.

He's had a career in the construction industry, and served

with the Reserve Parachute Regiment in the 15th Scottish Battalion.

He's now enjoying family life at home,

but, while his home life feels complete,

there's been a hole in his family

since he lost his mother 12 years ago.

She was the last in line of the Scott family.

However, Hugh's recently discovered a surprising family secret.

I was quite gobsmacked to discover that I had a cousin

and nobody had ever spoke about her.

For Hugh, the discovery that there's a living member

on the Scott side of his family has come as quite a surprise.

Growing up in '50s Glasgow, and not aware that there's a cousin

who's eight years older than you and a part of your family,

but just totally unaware of that person's existence.

What's more, this cousin's whereabouts

were shrouded in mystery.

No-one's ever spoke about her.

Never met her, obviously, and to suddenly discover

that you have someone, a part of your family,

or a part of my...

my mother's side of the family, if you will,

I'm just overwhelmed by that.

Hugh first made this shocking discovery eight months ago.

It was my cousin, another cousin,

an older, elderly cousin - Catherine.

And she, when she was a young girl, could remember playing with

another little girl in my gran's house,

way, way, way back.

And she says, "I think that was Josephine."

Stay.

For Hugh, this unexpected development

held particular significance.

Finding Josephine is very important

because she's the last link in a chain to

my mother's side of the family.

There's no...there's no-one left.

She's the only one that's left on my mother's side of the family.

That in itself is a big factor.

But knowing where to begin his search for Josephine

was going to be a challenge.

Probably if my mum was alive,

she may have been able to explain a bit more,

but to try and find someone that you didn't know existed,

someone that you don't know,

and how do you go about it?

It is quite daunting, so I made it a point that I'd say,

"Right, I'm going to try and find this lady."

To crack this enigma, Hugh needed some basic details,

but those were thin on the ground.

When I began the search for Josephine, I had a name

and a rough idea of the area she was born in.

That's all I had, I had nothing else.

But by speaking to his other cousin, Catherine, the girl who used to

play with Josephine, he also learnt another vital detail.

She says, "I know she wanted to become a nun when she was 15 or 16.

"She left to go to Ireland to be a nun,

"and no-one ever seen or heard of her since."

Finding out that Josephine had been a nun was a mixed blessing,

as Hugh felt this information

carried worrying implications for his search.

I know that nuns generally...

It was missionary work and they travel all over the world,

so she could be anywhere.

Is she in this country?

Is she in Africa or South America, or wherever?

Hugh's search was going to be even more problematic

than he'd first imagined.

How to find someone, you know,

the proverbial needle in a haystack...

To find this needle in a haystack,

Hugh started by doing some digging himself.

If he could locate a birth certificate for Josephine,

he would have something to work with.

His first port of call was the City Registration Office,

for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships.

-Hi, there.

-Come in, take a seat, please.

-Thank you.

With thousands of details on file,

it was a good starting point to begin his search.

Josephine Scott. She's a cousin and I've...I've never met her.

Hugh knew where Josephine was born.

-Erm, was she born in Scotland, Glasgow?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah, OK.

Name, it would be Scott.

-And first name, please?

-Josephine.

He also had an inkling about her mother's maiden name.

I think it was Margaret McQuade.

Maybe not, maybe Mary, but I think Margaret McQuade.

Do you have a rough year when she was born?

Late '30s, early '40s.

By narrowing down their search to an eight-year birth period,

it would hugely increase their chances of success,

and, by an incredible stroke of luck,

there was only one Josephine Scott born during this period in Glasgow.

Erm, Josephine Scott, the full name.

Uh-huh.

And then date, 12th of June, 1941.

The time of birth and the place of birth,

which is 238 Thistle Street in Glasgow.

The sex of the child is obviously female.

And to confirm it was her,

Josephine's parents were named on the certificate.

Parentage details for father, first of all, Walter Lyle Scott.

He was a motor lorry driver.

And mother's details, Mary Margaret Scott,

whose maiden surname was McQuade.

-Mm-hm.

-And then the informant was the father, Walter,

so, he's signed Walter L Scott.

It was the breakthrough Hugh needed...

..but that was just the first part of the puzzle.

Given Josephine's career as a nun, Hugh was no closer to knowing

what corner of the globe she might be on now,

so he got in contact with the professionals...

..400 miles away, in London.

Hi, it's the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service.

The Salvation Army helps bring together over 2,000 families a year.

Who are you trying to trace?

Some cases can take as little as two days to solve.

Others can take a lifetime.

Putting people back in contact, it is a special moment,

and especially one like this case,

which I felt was going to be extremely difficult.

Some cases can be a lot quicker.

We just cannot put a time limit on a case.

Armed with the birth certificate and the slim information he had

obtained from cousin Catherine, Hugh handed over his findings.

'In this case, he provided us with Josephine's birth name,'

her date of birth, a last known address that she was known to be at,

and also, that Josephine went to a convent in Ireland

in the 1950s, and that was the last the family had heard of her.

It wasn't much to go on,

but enough for the team to begin the arduous task.

Doing research under the surname Scott,

and also, we have connections with Glasgow, Ireland and England,

that would have been a lot of records to check.

Even for the professionals, the case was going to be a challenge.

I decided that I would go along the lines that possibly

Josephine hadn't married,

so I tried a line of enquiry straightaway

which was available to us, which came back with a negative result.

With searches coming up blank, the team were running out of options.

Their next move was to enlist the help of

one of a number of specialist companies that they work with.

And the good news was, they found a match.

I was overjoyed because I really felt this was going to be

an impossible search to do,

so when I had found her

I was absolutely delighted.

Hugh received the news the next day.

"Dear Mr McGarvey, further to the enquiries we are

"making on your behalf, we are pleased to be able to inform you

"that we have succeeded in contacting your cousin Josephine."

It says, "They've been given your own details

"and we do hope that very soon you'll be in touch with each other."

When I got that,

I could have fell on my back.

That is an absolutely incredible...

I haven't met Josephine yet, but I, honestly,

I'm looking forward to it, but that...

The emotions that were running through,

I can't explain them. I can't, I really can't.

'I couldn't believe it. I got a handwritten letter.

'Just out of the blue he's written to me

'to say he'd like to get in touch with me.

'I never dreamt for a minute that I had any relatives

'on the other side of the family.'

The fact that Hugh's found me

is really the best thing that probably happened to me.

Made up my mind, you know, right away.

I had no hesitation - I was going to do it, you know.

But where was Josephine living now?

Had life as a nun taken her overseas?

Me thinking that she's been in Africa and all over the world,

or where she was somewhere,

maybe in some place in South America or wherever.

But Hugh could never have imagined that Josephine would have

ended up where she did.

And here she is, she's on the South Side of Glasgow.

It turned out she was right on his doorstep all along.

She's only about six miles away from me.

That nearly floored me.

It is just mind-boggling, mind-boggling.

Josephine's story begins just a stone's throw from where

Hugh was born, with her parents' marriage in 1940.

I grew up in Glasgow - Thistle Street in the Gorbals.

But it wasn't a conventional matrimony.

My mum and dad ran away to get married

because he was a Protestant and my mother was a Catholic.

In the early 1940s,

mixed-faith marriages weren't commonplace in the west of Scotland.

My granny's brothers and sisters,

I think they thought it was shocking

that my mother would do that.

It wasn't the kind of thing to do in they days, you know.

And couples like Josephine's parents

would have feared a level of prejudice from both sides.

Sectarianism has been an issue in Glasgow over,

certainly throughout the 1900s,

and not just Glasgow, but the West Central Scotland.

The divide between Catholics and Protestants is referred to

as sectarianism and is visible at certain points in Scottish history.

It came about through the arrival of the Irish

to seek jobs in Scotland.

Ireland was a very rural place at that time,

and remained so for most of that century,

whereas Scotland was in the throes of the Industrial Revolution.

Social tensions arose in areas

which saw a large influx of Irish immigrants.

People did tend to - as immigrants do today -

did tend to settle in particular areas,

so it created concentrations

which became known as Catholic or green areas,

and where there was rivalry,

or problems with the neighbouring indigenous population,

who were largely Presbyterian and Protestant at this time.

This led to the beginnings of what we can call now sectarian troubles.

But it wasn't just religion that the Irish brought with them

from across the sea.

It wasn't simply because people were Catholic

and others were Protestant, it was also due to the fact that

people were arriving with different attitudes, different customs.

It did create some resentment amongst the existing working class,

and indeed, middle classes of the time, in Scotland.

Over the next 100 years, both churches

and their propaganda added fuel to the fire.

And both on the Catholic side and the Presbyterian side,

for a long time, they were saying,

"No, we should not be marrying the other side," if you like.

And as late as 1923, the Church of Scotland had a pamphlet which

was declaring that the Irish race in Scotland were uncivilised

and undermining the moral wellbeing of the people in Scotland.

By the 1940s, it remained somewhat taboo to marry

outside your faith, but where there was a will, there was a way.

In the course of my genealogy work,

I do come across mixed marriages between

people who are evidently Catholic and people who are Protestant.

You look at the record and you think,

"What kind of trouble would that have caused in the family?"

You know, would it have had parental approval?

Would it have had church approval?

Would they have had to bring their children up in that religion?

So, it's an added layer of complication within a family,

and could indeed lead to division within the family.

Ultimately, people might get disowned.

This was a dilemma which drew a wedge between many

families in the 20th century.

It's unclear how Josephine's parents' elopement was received

but, once married, the pair were keen to have children of their own,

and Josephine was born just a year later.

But sadly, family life was short-lived.

My dad was going into a garage

and another person was coming out of the garage,

but he was doing it the wrong way, and they crashed right into my dad.

Josephine's father didn't survive the accident.

His ribs went through his heart.

He was killed when I was eight months old.

Just a baby when the tragedy struck,

Josephine has no memory of her father.

I've not got any photographs of my dad,

and I saw one, one time only,

and I don't know what happened to it after that.

Josephine found solace in religion.

When she was 20, she decided to become a nun,

and against her mother's wishes

she travelled to a convent in Ireland.

I left Glasgow on the 30th of January, 1962,

and we took the boat over.

She spent the next seven years completing her vows,

but things didn't go to plan.

Josephine fell in love with a priest

and decided the sisterhood wasn't her calling.

She returned to Glasgow, where she still lives to this day.

Now in her 70s, there's one bit of history

Josephine wants to track down for herself.

'I've not got any photographs of my dad.

'It would be nice to see my dad again.'

Will her reunion with Hugh

help her find the final piece of the puzzle?

260 miles away, in Wolverhampton, a team of Family Finders has

also helped Natalie Barker track down her biological father, Patrick.

A week after receiving Natalie's letter,

father and daughter agreed to meet up.

First time I was waiting for my dad to arrive,

it was really, really nerve-racking.

Like, every single hour that went by, I was checking the time

and just watching the minutes go really, really slowly.

I was like, "Oh, come on!"

The pair haven't seen one another for almost a quarter of a century.

You've got this image in your head beforehand that you have

probably when you're younger.

That image, you know, now, could go one way or the other.

You know, it could be good or bad.

But the first time I actually went to Natalie's, slight nervousness.

I was more or less thinking about the response.

Today, they're meeting for only the third time.

BELL BUZZES Oh, my God, every time.

Every single time.

Hello.

Hello, Natalie. Dad speaking.

Hiya!

All right, I'll come down.

'25 years, what I've missed out, and it's suddenly come together,

'and I've sort of embraced it.'

Natalie and Patrick are making up for lost time,

and they've got more in common than they imagined.

These are all from, like, when I used to do cross-country.

God, do you know something? I used to do that when I was small.

-Oh, my gosh.

-I didn't realise you were a cross-country runner.

-Yup.

I didn't intend to be a cross-country runner, but...

until the teacher put me in a race, and then I found,

next thing, I was coming second.

Then I went on to being a 400m runner,

which I liked, but 800m is my field.

Ah, I see you came first.

Yeah, I'm first for that one. My God.

-It's nice being your dad, though.

-Mm.

-You've got some medals.

Yeah, what you need is a trophy cabinet,

-I'll have to get you a trophy cabinet.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-As you can see...

-Patrick's brought the family photo album along

to share his history with Natalie.

This is me when I was, obviously...I think four.

Does it look like me?

Can you see?

-Yeah.

-My brother

and your grandad and your grandma.

-That's my mother's brother.

-Aw...

For the first time,

she's learning about her family heritage on her father's side.

My dad, obviously, comes from Hanover in Jamaica...

-Hm.

-..and my mum comes from Saint Ann's in Jamaica,

but they, like I said, they met over here.

They were in their early 20s when they first come over here.

During the 1960s, the British government encouraged

skilled workers from the Commonwealth to come to Britain.

Many migrants found work in the factories of Wolverhampton.

Patrick's parents were among these workers, looking for a new life.

I'm the oldest of four boys over here.

-Is that you as well?

-This is me now with my Afro.

Those days, everybody used to wear the Afro and the curls.

-The Jheri curls?

-Yeah.

-SHE LAUGHS

And they put...what you call perms. A perm, isn't it?

I used to have... You can see I've got an Afro there,

-and my red trousers, look.

-SHE LAUGHS

People used to wear coloured trousers back in the '70s.

It's all right, they're back in fashion, they are.

-They've come back.

-Oh, well, they've probably pinched it off me.

How did you find it growing up in Wolverhampton?

When it came to, obviously, culture differences and things, and...

We adapted to culture differences.

My parents have always adapted to the English way of life.

-That's when... Basically, that's what I've always been taught.

-Hm.

So I've got the best of both worlds, really.

I've learned the West Indian way

-and I've learned the English way.

-Hm.

Having started her search with just a name and half an address,

Natalie can now look forward to

a new chapter of her life with Patrick.

If you have a missing family member and want to trace them,

here are some helpful tips when carrying out name searches.

Never assume a family name is only spelt one way.

Family names can be spelt in a number of different ways

and it's not unusual to find mistakes have been made,

often by those recording them.

Smith can be Smyth,

Rawlins can be Rawlings,

and Kitson can be Kidston.

Not only this, but names have evolved and changed over time.

Individuals may marry and hyphenate a surname.

They may become known by a nickname or they may decide to

call themselves something different altogether.

Make sure you check all the phonetic variations, just in case.

Although this is time-consuming,

the results could make it all worthwhile.

In Wolverhampton, Natalie's search for her father is over.

She's reflecting on the journey with her boyfriend, Chris.

You've been wanting to find your family since, like,

since I've known you.

I think once I found him it was, like, you know,

"Oh, OK. We can... We can handle anything now. It's fine."

With her new-found confidence, the couple have some very exciting news.

You know, I... I was going to marry her anyway.

You know...

Natalie and Chris have decided to tie the knot.

She's found her dad and that's really helped,

-just...just with you.

-Hm.

You know, cos I felt complete, it's like...

it has allowed us to kind of move on

to the next part of our lives together, type of thing.

I have noticed a marked improvement in just how you feel about yourself.

Him coming to my wedding is just, like, it's good.

It's good, it's very good.

It's been an eventful year for Natalie,

and before she takes the plunge,

she's invited Patrick to view the venue.

-Oh, so... Oh, this is the room...

-Yeah.

-..that you're getting married in.

-Ooh.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Oh, it's lovely, that.

Natalie has a very important question for her father.

What I was hoping as well, though,

is to have you and Mum walk me down the aisle.

-At least then, like, Mum, you know, brought me up and stuff...

-Mm.

And then, you... I want the future as well, you know?

-Yeah, I've got you.

-And you're to be part of that, so...

-I'll be honest, I'm proud.

-Aw...

Yeah, so I'll give you a kiss.

-Oh.

-It's a proud moment for Dad.

Having both my dad and my mum walk me down the aisle,

I think it's...

it's a nice symbolic moment because in a sense,

not only am I getting married,

it's a new beginning.

You know, he's going to be there for the future, as well.

I'll be honest, I didn't expect it. You surprised me.

'I'm so pleased that Natalie's found me,'

and to now be part of her celebration and part of the wedding,

and to be giving her away, as well.

They're getting married.

'In some respects I'm a bit nervous,'

cos, obviously, you know, they haven't seen each other

for a long time, but at the same time,

I know it's a fresh start.

For them to see each other after how many years and just be like,

"Yeah, we did it."

What dad wouldn't be proud?

When I set out to find my dad, it was difficult.

Like, the mix of emotions that come with it is tremendous.

It's been the final piece of the puzzle for my life, really,

and now it's time to start a new chapter.

-The future's going to be bright.

-Yeah.

-Thank you very much.

It's all right.

They're getting married.

With the help of the Salvation Army,

Hugh McGarvey is also looking forward to

a new chapter in his life.

His hunt for Josephine is almost over,

and his daughters are keen to hear his findings.

-So, what is her name? What's her full name?

-Josephine Scott.

-And they found her?

-Well, yeah.

Where is she?

She's in Glasgow, believe it or not.

His search has thrown up some surprising details.

How did Catherine know about her?

Well, cos she's the same age as Catherine.

She can vaguely remember playing with a wee girl

up in your great-gran's house.

It was his cousin Catherine who unlocked the mystery of

Hugh's missing cousin Josephine.

I think my dad's search is amazing.

Erm, I never actually knew that he was embarking on this

until a couple of days ago.

She'd quite a remarkable life. As I say, she did become a nun...

The fact that he knew that she existed

and that he'd asked the Salvation Army to help him find her is...

well, it's quite awesome.

She's your gran's brother's daughter, the Scott side of the family.

For Hugh, finding Josephine holds particular significance,

as she is the last living relative from his maternal line.

-What do I do, do I take flowers?

-Aye.

-I was going to say,

what are you going to take? Maybe some flowers and a box of chocolates

-or a box of shortbread...

-I would have taken flowers.

Not take a bottle of malt whisky

-or anything, no?

-No, no, do you know what I mean?

-OK.

Having lived parallel lives for the past 70 years,

not knowing the other existed,

the cousins are about to meet for the first time.

Fingers crossed it will be good, but nervous, yeah.

Yeah, I'm fairly nervous.

You know, I did over 200 parachute jumps.

My first one, I was absolutely terrified.

I'm just as nervous as that first parachute drop.

Very excited about meeting Hugh.

I'm dying to see him, actually.

I don't know whether he'll feel the same.

And Hugh's not the only person

Josephine will be reunited with today.

I've got some photographs here,

and I know that she hasn't got a...

From what I gather, she's not got a photograph of her dad.

So here I am in a taxi, going to visit a cousin I've never met,

roughly 25 minutes away from where I stay, and I don't...

I thought she was maybe in Africa or South America,

could have been anywhere in the world.

Oh, it is very, very important to me, you know,

because he is a member of my family. He's my dad's nephew, you know?

I don't know, has he got a full head of hair?

I don't know. Not that I've got a full head of hair!

Yeah, this is it...

the final...few steps till I meet my cousin.

-INTERCOM BEEPS

-Josephine's had little contact

with her close family

but, thanks to Hugh, all that's about to change.

Hello.

Josephine, it's Hugh.

-Right.

-INTERCOM BEEPS

I'm very excited.

-Hello.

-Josephine.

-Hi.

-I finally see you.

-Hi.

-Hi, how are you?

-You've had a long wait.

-Yeah.

Oh, you're right there, a long wait.

-Great to see you.

-That's great.

And these are for you.

Oh, that's lovely. Thanks very much, Hugh.

You've no idea what this is like today,

-what this is for me.

-I know.

-Hm, hm, hm.

-KISSING SOUND

-At last, cousin.

-At last, aye.

At last, long last.

I'm 68 years of age, she's 75 years of age and we're just starting off.

This is a new adventure.

-So you've came back to Glasgow... about 1970?

-Aye.

-And we're now into, what, 2015?

-Aye.

45 years you've been in Glasgow.

-Uh-huh.

-And you stay 20 minutes away.

-I know.

-I just find that absolutely...

-You know, it's mind-boggling.

-Aye.

-Hopefully, we can make up for lost time.

-I know, I know.

I'm so thankful that I've finally found you.

And Hugh has just the thing to get them started.

And you said you didn't have many photographs of your dad?

-No, only ever seen one.

-Did you?

I've got some old photos here.

Oh, that's lovely.

This is the first time Josephine will have seen her father

since she was a child.

That's one of them, with a friend, without his moustache.

Oh, aye.

And there he was, as clear as a bell,

and I knew as soon as I looked at it, it was my dad.

You know, just knew by looking at it.

-His hair's all...

-And that's the other one there.

-The Errol Flynn one.

-Oh, that's the one that I remember, aye.

-Yeah?

-That's the one I like.

-You know, that's quite imprinted on my memory, this.

-That one?

-Yeah.

-You know, I remember that.

-What?

-The moustache, you know.

-Yeah.

That was very, very like the one that my mum showed me.

-You haven't seen that photograph since you were seven years old?

-No.

-About that, uh-huh, roughly.

-Right, so that's 68 years ago.

-Is it?

-Aye, yeah.

-That's absolutely incredible.

-I know.

Showing Josephine photos of her dad was...

I was actually pretty gobsmacked when I discovered that the last time

she'd seen a photograph of her dad, she was seven years old.

-My...

-And my mother always told me how good-looking he was.

-Yeah, well, he looks a handsome lad, doesn't he?

-Aye, aye.

-The last link in the Scott family...

-Aye, aye, aye.

The final link will go on from here.

Long-lost cousin, at last.

Everybody's going to know. You'll be famous.

So there's a whole new chapter to start again.

-You ready?

-Right, aye.

SHUTTER CLICKS I can't wait to get her over

to meet everyone, because she's got extended family over there.

-Aye.

-There we go.

For Josephine, after years of feeling alone,

it's the start of a new family adventure,

with Hugh right by her side.

I just...I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of my family.

I'm really glad, glad it all happened. It was worth at all.

You know, it really was.

LAUGHTER