Browse content similar to Episode 11. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Families can be driven apart for all manner of reasons. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
My mum went away and didn't come back. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
And when you do lose touch with your loved ones... | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
I never saw Kathleen again. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:12 | |
..finding them can take a lifetime. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:14 | |
I wonder where he is, I wonder what he's doing. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
You don't really know where to begin. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
Especially when they could be anywhere. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
At home, or abroad. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
And that's where the family finders come in. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
Hi, it's the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
From international organisations... | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
There's never been a day when we have never had new enquires. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
..to genealogy detective agencies... | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
When is it you last had contact with him? | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
..and dedicated one-man bands. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
I like to do the searches that other people can't get, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
because it makes me feel good. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
They hunt through history to bring families back together again. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:54 | |
You are my biological...dad. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
In this series, we follow the work of the family finders... | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
This case came from our Australian colleagues. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
..learning the tricks they use to track missing relatives through time... | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
I'm 68 years of age, she's 75 years of age, and we're just starting off! | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
..and meeting the people whose lives they change along the way. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
I said, "Well, this is your younger sister." | 0:01:14 | 0:01:16 | |
It's a miracle. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:18 | |
I was struck speechless. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:19 | |
And I couldn't stop crying. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:21 | |
It's a proud moment. For Dad. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
It was the thought of finding my family. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
Tracking down lost family members has never been easier. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
The internet has made the tools of the trade available to anyone. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
And for those who lack the time or expertise | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
to search for themselves, there's a whole host | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
of family finding organisations, big and small, ready to help. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:49 | |
Yeah, that's what we do, we trace people on a daily basis. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:55 | |
The busiest of them all is the Salvation Army's Family Tracing Service. | 0:01:55 | 0:02:01 | |
Who're you trying to trace? | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
Your brother, all right... | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
Over the year, we are looking at over 2,000 cases | 0:02:05 | 0:02:08 | |
that were successful in finding the family members who have, | 0:02:08 | 0:02:13 | |
for one reason or another, lost contact with each other. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:17 | |
Just a few months ago, | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
the Salvation Army Family Finders were approached by a man desperate | 0:02:19 | 0:02:23 | |
to track down the cousin he hadn't seen since they were small boys. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
Often, a death in the family can be the reason why people contact us | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
to look for relatives relating to that family. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
This was a case with Brian, who wanted us to look for his cousin, Denis, | 0:02:36 | 0:02:40 | |
after his brother, Tony, had passed away. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
78-year-old Brian Read grew up with his brother Tony and cousin Denis | 0:02:48 | 0:02:53 | |
in south-east London during the Second World War. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:58 | |
Born a long time ago, 1937. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
My brother was born two years before me, but lived mostly in Abbey Wood. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:06 | |
Brian and Tony grew up with their mum, Doris, and father, Don. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
And life centred around the house of their grandmother, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
Nanny Stubbington. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:15 | |
Mum was a Stubbington and Abbey Wood Road was the centre of life | 0:03:18 | 0:03:24 | |
as far as the Stubbingtons were concerned. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
Wherever the uncles and aunts may have lived, they were always back | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
at number 34 for various reasons, weekends and what have you. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
Another regular at number 34 was Brian and Tony's cousin, Denis. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:45 | |
Denis was born on the 8th of December, 1934, | 0:03:45 | 0:03:50 | |
and Tony was born the very next day. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
So both my mother, Doris, and my Auntie Gertrude, Denis's mother, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:57 | |
were in the hospital at the same time, | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
and I think this is why they grew up together and were great friends. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:04 | |
It was a very happy time, despite the Second World War. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
As the war escalated, Brian's father was called up to fight in Italy | 0:04:10 | 0:04:15 | |
and the boys were evacuated to Scarborough. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
NEWSREEL: By sheer weight of numbers, the enemy again and again | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
broke through the coastal defences. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
Hello? Gunfire in the south-east. Right. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
With urban areas under threat from German bombing, | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
as soon as war broke out, | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
the British government appealed to families living outside the major cities | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
to take in children considered most at risk. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:43 | |
Nearly 2,000,000 children were sent away to live | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
with strangers in the relative safety of the countryside. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
But for many, the upheaval proved too upsetting for them and their families, | 0:04:51 | 0:04:55 | |
and they returned home, despite the dangers. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
Which is just what happened to Brian and Tony. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
We missed Mum, we missed all the Stubbingtons, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
and all we wanted to do was get home. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
And I think eventually what happened was that... | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
When Mum came up and she took us home, the war wasn't over, | 0:05:10 | 0:05:15 | |
she just came and took us home. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
She realised that, you know, we weren't having a good time. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:21 | |
Brian's mum managed to find them a home above the local fish and chip shop, | 0:05:21 | 0:05:26 | |
but while living there, they almost fell victim | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
to German bombing themselves. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
We were actually down in the chip shop buying some chips, | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
and this bomb came down with one hell of a whistle. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:39 | |
And the chippy just grabbed hold of Tony and I | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
and shoved us under the counter. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
Thankfully, the bomb missed the chip shop, | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
but the jam factory next door wasn't so lucky. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
SOUND OF FALLING BOMBS | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
There was Tony, there was me, there was Denis. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
Were quite pleased, because we went around gathering tins of jam. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:05:59 | 0:06:01 | |
And I think we had bread and jam for tea for the next several months. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:05 | |
Brian's father survived the war, and on his return, | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
the family moved to a new house a few miles away. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
We had two very happy years at Red Lion Lane, | 0:06:14 | 0:06:17 | |
but then Dad came home one day and said, "Mum's ill". | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
She'd been taken ill at work. That was in 1948. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:25 | |
And that was another thing, the first thing that Dad did was to take us | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
back to 34 Abbey Wood Road. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
So that Gran, Grandad, could look after us down there | 0:06:32 | 0:06:36 | |
while he was toing and froing to hospital. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
Brian's mum's condition soon got worse. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
We visited her once and while we were there, she was sick, | 0:06:44 | 0:06:49 | |
so we were immediately taken out, and that was the last time we saw her, in actual fact. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:54 | |
Yeah, um... | 0:06:54 | 0:06:56 | |
Dad came home one day, | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
he came in, I was out in the scullery with Gran and Auntie Gertrude. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:13 | |
Gran was feeding the washing into the mangle | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
and I was turning the handle, I remember. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
And Dad came in the door. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:24 | |
His face just collapsed. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
And he just said, "She's gone." | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
Always remember what Denis said. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
First thing he said was, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
"Does this mean that Tony and Brian can come and live with us now, Mum?" | 0:07:55 | 0:08:01 | |
Which other was quite... Rather nice. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
I've never forgotten that. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:07 | |
I think we stayed there for about a week. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:15 | |
And then Dad took us home to Red Lion Lane. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
His wife's death hit Brian's father hard, | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
and the family closed ranks. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:24 | |
Years passed, and Brian and Tony lost touch with Denis | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
and they started families of their own. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
Tony got married. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
I got married shortly thereafter. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
But Brian never forgot about his cousin. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
I was thinking about him all the time and what had happened to him. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
I thought, "Right, I'll try and find Denis now." | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
And, um... But I couldn't. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
Then, just last year, | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
tragedy struck once more. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:54 | |
Tony was killed in an accident. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:56 | |
When Tony died... | 0:09:00 | 0:09:01 | |
We were very close. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:05 | |
And I just felt that I... | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
That was a time when I just felt that I had to, | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
I HAD to contact Denis, because I knew that he would have | 0:09:13 | 0:09:18 | |
some good memories that we could share together. Yeah | 0:09:18 | 0:09:23 | |
Despite having seen or heard nothing of Denis in 70 years, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:28 | |
Brian was determined to track him down. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
I started to do some serious research just to try and find him, | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
but I just kept coming up against brick walls. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:38 | |
Brian's digging took him via various family finding websites | 0:09:38 | 0:09:42 | |
on a journey into his family's past. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
But despite unearthing various nuggets, | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
his main quarry proved elusive. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:51 | |
I found children, grandchildren, where people | 0:09:51 | 0:09:55 | |
had got married etc, but then always came up against a dead end. | 0:09:55 | 0:10:00 | |
Brian gave up all hope of ever seeing Denis again. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
But a chance encounter was about to open new doors to his search. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
Andrea Wood lives in Surrey with her husband, John, | 0:10:17 | 0:10:21 | |
and sons Luke and James. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:23 | |
A classic nuclear family, | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
and very different to her own experiences, growing up. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
My mum and my dad got married at a very young age. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
I think my mum was 17. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
And she fell pregnant and had me at 19. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
But things obviously didn't work out, because it was way too young. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
By the time of Andrea's birth, her father had already left home. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:53 | |
When my mum had me, at that point they'd split up. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:59 | |
He hadn't got involved, I think. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
I'm not too sure of the whole history of it, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:07 | |
but he didn't see me. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
Andrea was brought up by her mum and her grandparents. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
The father she'd never met simply wasn't discussed. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
My mum didn't really speak to me about him. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:23 | |
I'd, on the odd occasion, ask a question, | 0:11:23 | 0:11:27 | |
but it wasn't really a very discussed subject. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
But Andrea would soon have a father figure | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
and it was party thanks to her that her mum remarried. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
When my mum first met my stepdad, we were on holiday and I actually made | 0:11:38 | 0:11:43 | |
friends with his daughter and his son and then my mum and he got chatting. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:49 | |
They got married not too long afterwards. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:54 | |
From being an only child, Andrea was now part of a growing family | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
and as she got older, she began to question just who she was | 0:11:58 | 0:12:03 | |
and where she'd come from. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
Growing up, I was never made to feel the odd one out in the family, | 0:12:05 | 0:12:10 | |
but I knew I was different from my three brothers. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:14 | |
My stepdad pushed me - you need to go and find your dad, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:23 | |
you need to meet your biological dad, but obviously, | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
I didn't act on that straight away, sadly. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:30 | |
When you're younger, you don't tend to think about things like that | 0:12:30 | 0:12:35 | |
so much. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
I wondered about him, just wondered if I was anything like him, | 0:12:37 | 0:12:42 | |
but at that point in time, | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
maybe I wasn't quite ready psychologically and emotionally. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:50 | |
And then, after a lifetime with no contact from her father, | 0:12:51 | 0:12:56 | |
Andrea's 18th birthday brought a wholly unexpected surprise. | 0:12:56 | 0:13:01 | |
I actually got a birthday card from my biological dad, | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
but at that point, I was a very hot-headed teenager | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
and I looked at it and I thought, "Oh - happy birthday from Pete. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
"Well..." And I didn't really think much of it. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
Sadly. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
Putting the card to the back of her mind, Andrea got on with life, | 0:13:18 | 0:13:23 | |
meeting and marrying John and starting a family of her own. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
It was only with the death of John's father that Andrea | 0:13:29 | 0:13:33 | |
decided the time was right to go looking for her dad. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
It made her realise that life's a bit too short, | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
so I always used to wind her up and say, "You'd never actually do it!" | 0:13:41 | 0:13:46 | |
John turned round and said, "Oh, you'll never trace him. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:51 | |
"You've been saying that for years. You won't do it." | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
John's teasing spurred Andrea into action. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
She went straight online and with just a few clicks of a mouse, | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
brought up the name of a firm of family finders. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:07 | |
All right. That sounds like something we can help you with. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
What information do you have? | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
Finder Monkey is one of a number of agencies that use | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
a combination of experience, contacts | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
and publicly accessible information to track people down. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
When Andrea first came to us, | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
she supplied us with some basic information, so she knew the name of | 0:14:26 | 0:14:31 | |
the person she was looking for, | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
so she knew she was looking for a Peter David Bond. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
She knew his father's name and she also was able to tell us | 0:14:36 | 0:14:41 | |
that he'd married her mum in 1966 in Reading. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
For the experts, this was plenty to be going on. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
What we managed to find in this case was a Peter D Bond, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
born in Reading in 1946. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
Could this be their man? | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
Everything hinged upon whether the available information | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
about this Peter's parents matched the details Andrea had given. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:05 | |
What we found was that a Norman Peter Bond had married in Reading in | 0:15:05 | 0:15:12 | |
1941 a Nellie A Bendell, | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
so we were then confident that the birth record we'd found | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
related to the right person because it related to the right | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
father's name, was right age and in the right area. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
It was the breakthrough Andrea had been waiting for. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
I got a phone call saying, "OK, we've found your man." | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
I was so excited, so nervous. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:40 | |
So then I had to think about - OK, well, I need to write him a letter. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
I've got his address, I need to write him a letter. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:47 | |
But how do you go about writing to a father you've never met? | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
Andrea gave it her best shot. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:53 | |
"Dear Peter, I'm not sure if I need to introduce myself, | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
"but I will in case of doubt. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
"I'm Andrea Wood and my birth name was Bond. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
"I know this letter may come as a surprise after all these years, | 0:16:04 | 0:16:08 | |
"but it has been written in my head so many times over many years. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:13 | |
"However, I know now that I'm mature enough to deal with whatever | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
"the outcome. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
"This letter is sent with no blame or malice. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
"Take care and I look forward with warm anticipation | 0:16:21 | 0:16:25 | |
-"to your response." -Andrea posted the letter off, | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
crossed her fingers and waited to hear back from her father. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:32 | |
I was going crazy. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
"You heard anything?" "No." "You got anything?" "No." And I was getting... | 0:16:34 | 0:16:38 | |
You remember? I was getting a little bit tense, thinking, | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
"Obviously, he just doesn't want to know me. Maybe he's just..." | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
But I had to obviously remember that maybe that was what he wanted. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:49 | |
Two weeks passed with no news, but 80 miles away, | 0:16:49 | 0:16:54 | |
unknown to Andrea, her letter was lying unopened and unread. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:58 | |
Only time would tell if it would ever reach its target. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:03 | |
These days, the first port of call for any family finder is | 0:17:10 | 0:17:14 | |
the internet, but believe it or not, | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
there's a limit to the amount of information available online. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:21 | |
Sometimes, more traditional methods can pay dividends. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:25 | |
Local newspapers are an amazing resource, not just for announcements | 0:17:25 | 0:17:30 | |
of births, marriages and deaths, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
but to add colour and historical context to your search. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
You can stumble across fascinating nuggets, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
from old school photos to juicy local scandals. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:42 | |
There are digitised copies of some newspapers available online, | 0:17:42 | 0:17:46 | |
but often, it can be more rewarding to head to the local library | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
and get digging. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
It's been nearly 70 years | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
since Brian Reid last saw his cousin Denis. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
As small boys in wartime London, Brian, Denis | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
and Brian's brother Tony were inseparable. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
Brian's been searching tirelessly for Denis, without success, but | 0:18:11 | 0:18:16 | |
a chance encounter in a barber shop has just changed everything. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
For some crazy reason, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
I was relating to my hairdresser | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
that I'd been trying to find my cousin and she said, | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
"Have you tried the Salvation Army?" And I thought, "Crikey! | 0:18:28 | 0:18:32 | |
"Salvation Army." | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
Brian was able to provide us with Denis' full name, | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
his date of birth and his last known address and often, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
this information is all that we need to start an inquiry. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
But what looked like being a straightforward case proved | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
unexpectedly tricky. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:52 | |
When we began the search to look for Denis, | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
we used all the information given, but after two attempts, | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
we were unsuccessful in making contact with him. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
I was thinking, "Oh, they're having problems. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:07 | |
"If they've found anything, they'd let me know | 0:19:07 | 0:19:11 | |
"if they were having some good luck or good fortune." And I was | 0:19:11 | 0:19:15 | |
beginning to get a little bit sort of - it's not going to happen. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
The family finders decided to cast their next wider | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
and their digging unearthed a possible daughter for Denis. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
We believed it was her, | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
matching the information that we'd been given from Brian, | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
so we wrote to that address, | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
in the hope that she was the person we were looking for. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:38 | |
Their hunch proved to be spot on. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
It turned out the reason Denis had proved | 0:19:41 | 0:19:44 | |
so elusive is that he's relocated to the Costa del Sol. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:49 | |
My daughter rang me and said, | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
"Dad, the Salvation Army have been on, want to know - | 0:19:51 | 0:19:55 | |
"do I know you?" And I said, "What's it about?" She said, "I don't know. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:59 | |
Do you mind if I give them your phone number?" | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
I said, "No, I'm not hiding from anybody. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
"Give them the phone number, by all means." | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
And then when I found out it was Brian, that was great. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
I just remember him in short pants and curly hair | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
and about ten years old. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
Literally, that's the last time I can remember seeing him. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:20 | |
After losing touch with Brian and Tony, Denis lived a colourful life. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
He served in the Household Cavalry, | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
the famous regiment who stand sentry on Whitehall, | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
before becoming first a policeman and then a private detective. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
Retired and married for a fourth time, he now lives in Spain. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
Tony and Brian were my mum's sister's boys and I know we, | 0:20:46 | 0:20:54 | |
as the older kids, | 0:20:54 | 0:20:55 | |
were always trying to get rid of the younger ones. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
I still tell stories to my grandson | 0:20:58 | 0:21:03 | |
about the boys during the war. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
We had great fun, we had great fun. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
But in post-war Britain, losing touch was easy, | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
especially for a free spirit like Denis. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
Shortly after they moved, I also had to move down to Dartford. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:21 | |
It was all due to the re-housing schedule that was | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
going on after the war. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
Council houses were being built all over the place. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
So, I was a bit of a nomad for a while, moving from place to place. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
But despite the passing years and the move abroad, | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
now the Salvation Army had tracked Denis down. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:43 | |
Brian was at home with his wife Pauline when the call came through. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:50 | |
When she phoned me and said, "We've made contact with a daughter | 0:21:50 | 0:21:54 | |
"and he's living in Spain," I thought, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
"That's why I couldn't find him! Obviously!" | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
And the first thing I did, I was... | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
I think Pauline was sitting in the lounge, | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
watching a bit of TV or something and I was in there and... | 0:22:06 | 0:22:11 | |
"We've found him! We've got him! | 0:22:11 | 0:22:14 | |
"We're going to make contact!" Absolutely terrific. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
Although Brian hasn't seen or heard from Denis for so many years, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
he has a very special meaning in the whole scheme of things | 0:22:21 | 0:22:26 | |
and it's just so special and so special for me to know | 0:22:26 | 0:22:31 | |
that I can see Brian gain some comfort after Tony, | 0:22:31 | 0:22:36 | |
by meeting up again with Denis. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
It's the best thing, in my point of view, that could ever have happened. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
-Mm-hm. -After Tony. -Yeah. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
And the upset and the devastation that you went through then. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:52 | |
-It's the best thing that could have happened for you. -Yeah. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:57 | |
And I hope that when you | 0:22:57 | 0:22:59 | |
and Denis get together, that you'll get the comfort from that. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:05 | |
-I think I will, Pauline. -That nobody else can give you. -That's it. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:10 | |
And if you don't give me a hug right now, I'm going to hit you. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
Overjoyed, Brian couldn't wait to arrange the reunion. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:22 | |
Before I could do anything, Denis phoned me, | 0:23:22 | 0:23:25 | |
so that was absolutely terrific. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
You know, we spoke after 70 years, I think, as far as I can remember... | 0:23:27 | 0:23:33 | |
We were only sort of ten years old when I last saw him. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
After 70 years apart, | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
the two cousins wasted no time in arranging to meet up. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
I don't know if I'm not going to break down. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
The mere fact that we had this connection, I think, is going | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
to be quite emotional for me. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
Yeah. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:56 | |
Denis has flown over from Spain and today, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
he and Brian will meet for the first time since they were small boys. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
I'm very excited for Brian. Really excited for him. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:12 | |
This is about Brian and Denis, with Tony there on their shoulders. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:18 | |
I just hope I'm not going to get too emotional. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
-Well, it is going to be emotional. -I know, but... | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
I'm so much looking forward to it, after all these years. Yeah. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
I'm feeling a little bit nervous about it, but at the same time, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:32 | |
it'll be great to see him again and it's exciting, really. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
It's 2,000 miles and 70 years between us. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:41 | |
The fact that he's flown all the way over from Spain, I think, | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
is absolutely terrific, absolutely wonderful. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
It'll be great to see what he's like now, anyway. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
And I'm sure he feels the same. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
I don't know if I'm taller than him, shorter than him, | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
fatter than him, thinner than him... It'll be great. | 0:24:56 | 0:25:00 | |
-Denis. -Ha-ha! | 0:25:51 | 0:25:52 | |
Hello, mate! | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
Oh! | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
Oh, Denis! | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
You are a little bit shorter than me. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
I was wondering if you were bigger or smaller. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
-No, I knew you'd be up there somewhere. -Oh, great. -Gee whizz! | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
-I should have put my tie on, Denis. -No! | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
It's the old army training, ain't it? | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
-I left it off at the last minute. -Good luck to you. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
-You're comfortable, I expect. It's great. -Oh, dear. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
You're looking all right. What have we got...? That's me Lifeguards... | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
Old Comrades Association. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:23 | |
-Brilliant. -Lifeguards Association. -Absolutely wonderful. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
-Shall we sit down? -Yeah, great. -Yeah. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:28 | |
I got a few photographs in there for you, Denis. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
Yeah. And you've got some for me that I haven't seen before. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
It's brilliant to see you. Really fantastic. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:39 | |
Fantastic's not the word for it, Denis. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
A lifetime may have passed since their last meeting, | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
but it's like these two old friends have never been apart. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:48 | |
I've got to recognise you. Come on. Where are you? | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
Er... | 0:26:51 | 0:26:53 | |
I can't see you, Denis. I'm no good at these sort of things. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:56 | |
-I think is it me in the middle. -Ah. -Yes. | 0:26:56 | 0:26:59 | |
-Right in the middle, at the back. -I can see you, yeah. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
There's a few of Tony and I. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
That's the last time I sort of remember you, as it were. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
-The last time I remember seeing you. -Right. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
Was when you were about... Like that. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
-Like that. -Around that time. -Yeah. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:17 | |
Cor, look at the cheeky smiles on those two! | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
Chubby chops. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
-Tony looks great, doesn't he? -Yeah. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
Brian and Denis have lived separate lives as adults, | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
but their childhood was spent very much together. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
And today, they've planned a pilgrimage | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
to the streets where they grew up. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
I tell you what. That is so familiar, isn't it? | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
-Huh? -Be nice to go and see what it's like now. -See what it's like now. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
-Yeah. -I doubt it's all individual shops. It'll all be sort of... | 0:27:44 | 0:27:48 | |
-Mini-markets and things now. -Wonder what it is. Yeah. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
It'll be interesting to go and see. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:52 | |
-Shall we? -Yeah, absolutely. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
Let's go and see it, Denis. | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
I'd really very much like to see that. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
-Let's give it a... -Yeah. -Let's give it a go. -Great stuff. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
As Brian and Denis get closer to their old neighbourhood | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
of Abbey Wood, the memories start to flood back. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:23 | |
-Yeah, this is Knee Hill. -This is Knee Hill. -Yeah. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
I've walked all the way up here. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 | |
I never forget, because it was during the war. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
Brian's thoughts turn to his mother, | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
who died shortly after the end of the war. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:37 | |
Do you remember what you said, Denis? | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
-About her? -When you learned that Mum had died? | 0:28:40 | 0:28:42 | |
-You don't remember what you said to your mother? -No. -Oh, I do. -Really? | 0:28:42 | 0:28:46 | |
I do. You said... | 0:28:46 | 0:28:47 | |
"Does this mean that Tony and Brian can come and live with us now, Mum?" | 0:28:48 | 0:28:52 | |
-Oh, God. -Yeah. I've never forgotten that, Denis. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:55 | |
I thought that was lovely. Yeah. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:57 | |
I really did. I've never, ever forgotten that. | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
I've always thought that was... | 0:29:03 | 0:29:05 | |
-Cos you were such good friends with Tony especially. -Yeah, yeah. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:09 | |
You know? | 0:29:09 | 0:29:10 | |
Ray Huntley lived in that house there. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:16 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:29:16 | 0:29:18 | |
Cor, dear, oh, dear. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
-I tell you what. This hasn't changed, Denis. -It hasn't. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:22 | |
-Apart from the cars and the wheelie bins. -It hasn't. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:25 | |
An incendiary bomb went down the chimney in one of these here. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
For Brian, Denis and the rest of their extended family, | 0:29:29 | 0:29:33 | |
life in the 1940s revolved around their grandmother's house. | 0:29:33 | 0:29:37 | |
It's the obvious place to start. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
-Oh, this is fantastic! -It hasn't changed. | 0:29:40 | 0:29:42 | |
-The hedge hasn't changed. -No. It hasn't. Still well kept. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:50 | |
Well, I'll be jiggered. Look at that. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:52 | |
Yeah. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:53 | |
Brilliant, innit? | 0:29:54 | 0:29:55 | |
Come on, let's give it a go, Denis. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
See who's here. Now, I can remember how proud I was | 0:30:04 | 0:30:07 | |
-when I could jump down those five steps. -Yeah. Yeah. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
-It's our house. -Yeah. -Still the same. -Still the same. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
KNOCKING | 0:30:15 | 0:30:17 | |
-Nobody's home. -I think we're out of luck here. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:26 | |
I think we are, yeah. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:28 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:30:28 | 0:30:30 | |
I can't jump down them now! | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
That's... Both sides, as you say, were the bomb sites, weren't they? | 0:30:34 | 0:30:37 | |
I suppose it's when you're a kid, this seems quite a long way, | 0:30:39 | 0:30:43 | |
-doesn't it? -It does. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:45 | |
Just around the corner from their grandmother's house | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
was the chip shop where Brian lived during the war | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
with his mother and brother. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:51 | |
It's where I used to live! What does it say up there? | 0:30:52 | 0:30:55 | |
-I can't read it. Provisions? -Grocer and provisions. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
-So it's been more than a fish and chip shop. -Yeah. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
Crikey. This used to be a big window. The door used to be there. | 0:31:03 | 0:31:07 | |
That's where we lived. Up there in there. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:10 | |
And when the bomb dropped on the jam factory, | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
we were actually - Tony and I - were in there, buying some chips, | 0:31:14 | 0:31:17 | |
and the chippy got hold of us and shoved us under the counter and said, | 0:31:17 | 0:31:21 | |
"You stay there." | 0:31:21 | 0:31:23 | |
Cos this bomb was bloody whistling down. Yeah. | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
-Yeah, this was the off-licence. -Still is, look. Off-licence. -Yeah. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:33 | |
Nan would say, "Go and get me a Guinness." | 0:31:35 | 0:31:37 | |
-Yeah, a Guinness. Yeah. Yeah. -Yeah. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:39 | |
-Look at the lock on the door. -Yeah. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
That door always used to be open. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:52 | |
Yeah, always. And the jam factory. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:54 | |
This is where the jam factory was, yeah. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
-The bomb dropped... -Sugar and jam everywhere. -Everywhere. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:02 | |
For both cousins, | 0:32:04 | 0:32:05 | |
it's been a welcome return to their old stamping grounds | 0:32:05 | 0:32:08 | |
and the neighbourhood they thought they'd never see again. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:12 | |
Brilliant. We've done well. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:13 | |
It's been absolutely bloody marvellous, Denis. It really has. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:16 | |
For Brian, having lost his brother Tony so recently, | 0:32:18 | 0:32:22 | |
having his cousin and childhood friend back | 0:32:22 | 0:32:24 | |
has come at just the right time. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:26 | |
Give us another hug, please. | 0:32:28 | 0:32:29 | |
-Another hug. -And one from Tony as well. -Oh, yes. God rest his soul. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:34 | |
-Don't start me off. -God rest his soul. No, don't start now. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:37 | |
I'm getting better now, Denis. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:39 | |
-Yeah, that was from Tony. -Oh, great. -That's what all this is about. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:43 | |
-Yep. -Yeah. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:44 | |
Wow. | 0:32:47 | 0:32:48 | |
It's been...absolutely marvellous. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
I've met Denis after all these years and... Oh, what a character! | 0:32:52 | 0:32:57 | |
-There was a beautiful girl used to work in the jam factory. -Uh-huh? | 0:32:57 | 0:33:01 | |
Long blonde hair. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:02 | |
We used to see her walking to work every morning | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
and all the boys were whistling at her. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:08 | |
It really has been absolutely terrific. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:10 | |
We've recalled so many wonderful, wonderful memories. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:14 | |
Refresh my memory. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:15 | |
Is it a little further down the road where there's the park with | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
-the paddling pool? -Paddling pool. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:19 | |
On hot days, we'd go down there and lay in the water. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:23 | |
I used to fall in it, Denis. I used to fall in it, fully clothed. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:28 | |
Gosh, he's... He's just grand. He's great. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:32 | |
He's marvellous. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:33 | |
He's what I call a real character. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
An absolute real... | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
I just want to get hold of him and hug him all the time. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:40 | |
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:43 | |
I suppose that's starting to ring true | 0:33:43 | 0:33:46 | |
because I feel closer to him now than I've ever felt. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
Brian can only imagine what Tony would have made of meeting Denis | 0:33:50 | 0:33:54 | |
and visiting their childhood haunts after all these years. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:58 | |
I think - and I don't believe in that sort of thing - but if he were | 0:34:00 | 0:34:05 | |
watching and listening, I think he would be absolutely delighted. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
Andrea Wood used a family finding agency to track down Peter, | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
the father she'd never met. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:25 | |
She sent him a letter, but two and a half weeks passed and still, | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
she's heard nothing. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:32 | |
There's me sitting there, thinking, OK, well, | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
he obviously doesn't want to know me or he's still not around... | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
It was the longest two and a bit weeks that I'd ever, ever had. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:46 | |
But just when she'd given up hope, Peter returned from a long holiday | 0:34:48 | 0:34:53 | |
to find Andrea's letter waiting for him. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:55 | |
It was just something that I did not expect, | 0:34:57 | 0:35:01 | |
and it was... It was really so unexpected. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:05 | |
I can't think of anything else that would have surprised me more, | 0:35:05 | 0:35:09 | |
seriously. I was well, well pleased. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:13 | |
Shocked and delighted, Peter immediately wrote back, | 0:35:13 | 0:35:17 | |
and Andrea finally knew her search was over. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
I felt so happy | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
and so relieved. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:31 | |
The relief was expressed through tears. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:35 | |
I couldn't control the happiness. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:37 | |
Peter lives near Newbury in Berkshire. | 0:35:40 | 0:35:43 | |
Now 69, he was barely 21 when he married Andrea's mother. | 0:35:43 | 0:35:49 | |
I decided that marriage was not for me. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:53 | |
I was still a very young man, | 0:35:53 | 0:35:55 | |
and I really thought that I knew my own mind | 0:35:55 | 0:35:59 | |
and that I knew what I was doing. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:01 | |
In retrospect, I certainly didn't. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:05 | |
I remember when Andrea was born. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:10 | |
You know, she was a lovely little thing, she really was. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:14 | |
But I was still determined to do what I wanted to do, | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
even though it wasn't the right thing. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
And it really wasn't the right thing. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:23 | |
I've made one or two decisions in my life that I'm not proud of, | 0:36:23 | 0:36:27 | |
and that is definitely the major one. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
Peter had chosen to walk away, | 0:36:30 | 0:36:32 | |
but he never stopped thinking about his daughter. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:36 | |
I always wondered what Andrea looked like, | 0:36:36 | 0:36:39 | |
but when I did try and get in touch, | 0:36:39 | 0:36:42 | |
it was a card on her 18th birthday. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:46 | |
She made it quite plain that she didn't want to know, | 0:36:46 | 0:36:50 | |
which is understandable. | 0:36:50 | 0:36:53 | |
After that I left it alone, which is fair enough - | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
you don't encroach on somebody if they don't want to know. | 0:36:56 | 0:37:00 | |
Having given up hope of ever seeing his daughter again, | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
Andrea's letter offered Peter the chance | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
to start a whole new chapter in his life. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:11 | |
They wasted no time in arranging to meet at Peter's home in Berkshire. | 0:37:13 | 0:37:18 | |
The first meeting, when I actually drove into his drive, | 0:37:19 | 0:37:24 | |
I had to get myself... | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
I had to get myself under control. I was so nervous. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:31 | |
Oh, I was a bag of nerves. | 0:37:31 | 0:37:33 | |
I really was a bag of nerves. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
I think I polished everything about ten times. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:39 | |
I was pacing up and down and God knows what. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
I was trying to find things to do, really, more to occupy my mind. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:47 | |
I got out of the car and went and knocked on the door, | 0:37:49 | 0:37:52 | |
and he opened the door, and he said, "Hello, Andrea." | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
And I just put my arms around him and said, | 0:37:54 | 0:37:58 | |
"Lovely to meet you, Pete." | 0:37:58 | 0:38:00 | |
It was lovely. Absolutely. She looked a treat, she really did. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:04 | |
I think there was a bit of a... SHE SNIFFS | 0:38:04 | 0:38:06 | |
..from him, and I think from me also. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:10 | |
Yeah. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:14 | |
It was an immediate hug. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
We couldn't stop hugging one another. I mean, absolutely amazing. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:22 | |
I've got to say, I had a tear in my eye. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
Since their first meeting, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:29 | |
Peter and Andrea have been making up for lost time, | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
spending weekends and family holidays together | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
and giving Peter the chance to be a grandad. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:37 | |
First when my mum didn't find her dad, | 0:38:38 | 0:38:44 | |
she was a bit, like, sad and lonely, | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
and a bit depressed. And ever since she found him, | 0:38:47 | 0:38:52 | |
-she's been really happy. -She's woken up and everything. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:56 | |
Instead of being all grumpy in the morning, she's like, | 0:38:56 | 0:39:00 | |
IN A CHIRPY VOICE: "Hey, boys, how you been? Did you have a nice sleep?" | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
And everything, instead of, | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
IN A MONOTONOUS VOICE: "Uh, I'm going to work now. Bye." | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
But there's one special occasion that Peter's never been present for. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:19 | |
He's missed all of Andrea's birthdays, | 0:39:19 | 0:39:22 | |
but what she doesn't know is that's about to change. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:27 | |
Yeah, it's lovely. Can't wait. I really can't. | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
Now he's planning to spring a surprise on her special day. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:36 | |
Here we go. Awesome. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:40 | |
-Oh, dear. Happy birthday. -Fancy seeing you! -Happy birthday. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:12 | |
There's a surprise! | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
-There you go. -Oh, my word! -Happy birthday. -Thank you. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
It was lovely when my dad turned up today. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
Yeah, complete and utter surprise, didn't expect it. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:25 | |
When I saw his reflection in the mirror, | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
yeah, it was just... It was just awesome. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:35 | |
-You didn't tell us he was coming. -I didn't know he was coming. | 0:40:35 | 0:40:39 | |
-It's a surprise. -Only your dad knew. -SHE LAUGHS | 0:40:39 | 0:40:43 | |
You're looking nice. You're looking very nice. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
-It's nice to see you. -Lovely. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
Absolutely incredible. | 0:40:51 | 0:40:53 | |
To actually get here on her birthday was a rare treat, | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
and I know that she loved it. Bless her. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
I think Andrea liked the pretty pink ones. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:05 | |
Sorted. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:10 | |
After 47 years, Peter finally gets the chance | 0:41:12 | 0:41:16 | |
to do something most dads take for granted. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:19 | |
You do feel more complete. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:25 | |
Since I've met Andrea, I've got, if you like, a tailor-made family. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:31 | |
Blow the candles. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:33 | |
Yes, that'll do. Awesome. Well done, Mum. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:37 | |
I get on with John like a house on fire, | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
and the little boys just add the energy to the mix | 0:41:39 | 0:41:43 | |
which is something, perhaps, that was missing out of my life before. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:48 | |
There was no energy, and they are energetic, those two. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:55 | |
I love them to bits. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:56 | |
-How long have you made this den, then? -We've had it for ages. | 0:41:57 | 0:42:01 | |
-Have you? -Ever since we started knocking down that shed. -Right. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
And having missed out on the chance to be a dad first time around, | 0:42:06 | 0:42:11 | |
Peter now intends to make the most of his time with his grandchildren. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
He came back to our house in our mum's car, | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
and we saw him and the first thing we did | 0:42:19 | 0:42:24 | |
was give him a massive hug. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:26 | |
Yeah, and we hand-shaked him and everything. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
So over you went. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:31 | |
He normally takes us out for a walk in the morning. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:35 | |
-Yeah. -And then we, like... -He buys us sweets. -Yeah, sometimes. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
You've got a climbing tree as well? Awesome. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:43 | |
It's down to Andrea, really. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:46 | |
I mean, this was instigated by her, | 0:42:46 | 0:42:49 | |
and if it hadn't been for her, | 0:42:49 | 0:42:52 | |
then it wouldn't have happened. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:55 | |
It's as simple as that, and I'm so pleased. I am so... | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
Well, I can't really say how pleased I am. It's just... | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
It has changed my life. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:04 | |
Well, it's certainly changed ours. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 |