0:00:02 > 0:00:04Families can be driven apart for all manner of reasons.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07My mum went away and didn't come back.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10And when you do lose touch with your loved ones...
0:00:10 > 0:00:13I never saw Kathleen again.
0:00:13 > 0:00:14..finding them can take a lifetime...
0:00:14 > 0:00:17I wonder where he is, I wonder what he's doing.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19You don't really know where to begin.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23..especially when they could be anywhere - at home or abroad.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28And that's where the family finders come in.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Hi, it's the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34From international organisations...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37There's never been a day when we have never had new enquiries.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40..to genealogy detective agencies...
0:00:40 > 0:00:42When is it you last had contact with him?
0:00:42 > 0:00:44..and dedicated one-man bands...
0:00:44 > 0:00:47I like to do the searches other people can't get,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49cos it makes me feel good.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54..they hunt through history, to bring families back together again.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56"You are my biological dad."
0:00:56 > 0:00:59In this series, we follow the work of the family finders...
0:00:59 > 0:01:02This case came from our Australian colleagues.
0:01:02 > 0:01:03..learning the tricks they use
0:01:03 > 0:01:06to track missing relatives through time...
0:01:06 > 0:01:10I'm 68 years of age. She's 75 years of age and we're just starting off.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14..and meeting the people whose lives they change along the way.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16I said, "Well, this is your younger sister."
0:01:16 > 0:01:18It's a miracle.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21I was struck speechless and I couldn't stop crying.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23It's a proud moment for Dad.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25That was the start of finding my family.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Across the UK, there are a range of family-finding organisations
0:01:37 > 0:01:39who will trace your relatives for a small fee.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43Often people who have lost contact through being fostered out
0:01:43 > 0:01:45at a young age, they often contact us
0:01:45 > 0:01:48and want to be back in touch with their siblings.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51But you don't always have to use a specialist agency.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Many people do some DIY genealogy to find their relatives.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Nowadays, you sit down at your computer, you click the mouse
0:01:59 > 0:02:02and, hopefully, the computer will do the searching for you.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Which is exactly how Jonathan Fryer was traced by his family.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Jonathan was adopted at the age of 18 months.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19I was born in June 1950, in Manchester, and grew up
0:02:19 > 0:02:24in Eccles, which is part of Salford, now part of Greater Manchester.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30And I was adopted into a family and had an older adopted sister.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34My adoptive family never made any attempt to hide the fact
0:02:34 > 0:02:37I was adopted and so, really, from the earliest age
0:02:37 > 0:02:40I knew that I wasn't really their child.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Jonathan never felt part of the family.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48I very much felt like a fish out of water.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Although it was materially very comfortable
0:02:51 > 0:02:56and I'm sure they tried to provide everything that they could for me,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00there was a real disconnect between me
0:03:00 > 0:03:04and, particularly, my adopted father, who was much older.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08He was quite far right wing, quite intolerant
0:03:08 > 0:03:12and, from a very early age, I had my mind open to the wider world.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Despite the openness with which he learnt of his adoption,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Jonathan was unable to discover any of the details.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24One of the most frustrating things, which really made me very angry
0:03:24 > 0:03:29as a child, was that I knew that my adopted parents had met my mother.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33They refused point-blank to tell me who she was.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37My adopted mother just said one time, "Oh, nobody special."
0:03:37 > 0:03:41And this really ate me up inside. It became a real bone of contention.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44I was angry about it, but they were even angrier.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50My adopted father said, "You mustn't keep asking, you mustn't.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52"You're so ungrateful."
0:03:52 > 0:03:55When I said, "Surely there must be some documents or something,"
0:03:55 > 0:03:59they said, "No, we've destroyed everything. You'll never find out."
0:03:59 > 0:04:04And when I was 13, my adopted father actually said,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06"I wish I hadn't adopted you."
0:04:07 > 0:04:08I said, "Well, I agree."
0:04:08 > 0:04:12And that was one of the very few times we ever agreed about anything.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16Jonathan became increasingly emotionally distant.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21It was an enormous void in my life, not knowing who my mother was,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25but knowing she existed. That was really frustrating.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27If you don't know who you are,
0:04:27 > 0:04:34if you haven't had that contact with your mother who, perhaps,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38is the most significant person in your life.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42At 18, Jonathan left home to become a journalist.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44But not just any journalist -
0:04:44 > 0:04:47he opted to cover the biggest story of the age.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Things had got so bad at home that I was determined to leave and,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55because Vietnam was the big issue of the day,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58I rang up the Manchester Evening News
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and they said, "We'll give you a letter of accreditation
0:05:01 > 0:05:04"and if we like the stuff that you send, then we will print it
0:05:04 > 0:05:07"and pay you the normal freelance rate."
0:05:07 > 0:05:13So, I packed a suitcase and, at age 18, travelled by train
0:05:13 > 0:05:16all the way through Eastern Europe, right across the Soviet Union,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19then by boats all the way down the east coast of Asia
0:05:19 > 0:05:21and ended up in Vietnam.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Fortunately, the Manchester Evening News
0:05:23 > 0:05:27did like what I wrote and my career was launched.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Forging ahead in his new role as a foreign correspondent,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Jonathan put thoughts of his adoption to the back of his mind.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42Then, in 1975, the law regarding adoption documentation changed,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46allowing all adoptees over the age of 18 to access their records.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51I realised there was now a possibility to do
0:05:51 > 0:05:56a bit of detective work and to find out who I really am.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Before this act was passed in November 1975, a promise
0:06:00 > 0:06:04of lifelong confidentiality was given to birth parents and families.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Subsequent changes to the adoption act have opened up records
0:06:07 > 0:06:10to people which has allowed them to trace their birth parents
0:06:10 > 0:06:12and find out more about their ancestry,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14which is something that's quite common -
0:06:14 > 0:06:19that people feel that they need to find out where they really came from.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Jonathan was now finally able to obtain
0:06:22 > 0:06:25his original birth certificate for the first time.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27I'll never forget the day it arrived because it arrived
0:06:27 > 0:06:31through the post - this is months after I'd started this process.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34And I opened it and there, suddenly,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37was a completely different set of names
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and I was no longer Jonathan Harold Fryer,
0:06:40 > 0:06:44which I never really felt I was, but Graeme Leslie Morton.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48- TEARFULLY:- And, suddenly, there was my mother's name.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57And I felt a huge relief.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02It was very emotional.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07When you've wanted to know for years...
0:07:08 > 0:07:13And, suddenly, there it was - Joyce Morton, formerly Ashcroft,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17with an address. Who was the father? Just a black line.
0:07:17 > 0:07:23And this was really the key to open the door to the paper trail.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Months of research at the National Register Office revealed
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Jonathan also had an older half-sister.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Another piece of the jigsaw had been put in, but it's not a jigsaw that
0:07:37 > 0:07:41you do overnight. It's a jigsaw you can take months or even years to do.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44In my case, it was years.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49Because, actually, each piece that's put in wrenches you.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52It's exciting, but it's also very difficult.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Jonathan's birth certificate stated the address his mother
0:07:57 > 0:07:59had lived at when he was born.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03So, he took the train from London to Manchester, in the hope
0:08:03 > 0:08:05someone might know where she was now.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I came up alone and found this street
0:08:10 > 0:08:13and the house over there, where she had lived.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16And it took me a few minutes to pluck up the courage
0:08:16 > 0:08:20to knock on the door and, then, of course, there was nobody there.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22I went to the house next door
0:08:22 > 0:08:27and there was a very nice elderly lady there who invited me in.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31And she said, "Oh, I remember her very well.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34"She was a very beautiful young woman with a great eye
0:08:34 > 0:08:37"for a man in uniform." And I thought, "Great.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40"Sounds just the sort of woman I would have loved."
0:08:42 > 0:08:45I was sad, as well, because one half of me
0:08:45 > 0:08:49had really hoped that this would be an opportunity to meet her.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51And the most disappointing thing was when the neighbour,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55although she remembered her very well, said she moved away years ago.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58No idea where she was and, so, I thought the chance of ever
0:08:58 > 0:09:01tracking her down would be extremely remote.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05There was something at the back of me sort of saying,
0:09:05 > 0:09:12"Well, if my mother knew where I was, knew who'd adopted me,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15"maybe she would have got in touch, if she wanted to."
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Having, in a sense,
0:09:17 > 0:09:22been rejected, I just couldn't bear to go through that again.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25And so I didn't follow it up any more.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31With nowhere left to go, Jonathan gave up his search.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35But little did he know that someone else was already looking for him.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Occasionally, the unsung heroes in uniting family members
0:09:48 > 0:09:52are those working in their daily jobs who take a little extra time
0:09:52 > 0:09:57to use their expertise and help make the connections where others cannot.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00I look after the cemetery for Ongar Town Council.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05We arrange burials, interment of cremated remains,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09and, occasionally, we get enquiries about people
0:10:09 > 0:10:14looking for relatives who are researching family history.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Town clerk Judith Cook helped Christine St Aubyn in her search
0:10:18 > 0:10:20for the family she'd never known.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23It's really message in a bottle stuff.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26You might as well put a message in a bottle and chuck it in the sea
0:10:26 > 0:10:28for the odds of this happening to us.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32The story begins when Christine's grandmother, Rose,
0:10:32 > 0:10:37left her home in Ongar, Essex, for a new life in Australia in 1919.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40She married an Australian soldier
0:10:40 > 0:10:43and then emigrated to Australia as a war bride.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Like many women of her generation after World War I, Rose married
0:10:47 > 0:10:51a foreign serviceman and left home for a new life in the colonies.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54She wasn't very warmly welcomed because, of course,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58the Australian girls weren't very keen on the English girls
0:10:58 > 0:10:59pinching their blokes.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01So, when they arrived in Port Melbourne,
0:11:01 > 0:11:03all the English brides were pelted.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06There was a Brockhoff's Biscuits bakery, as it happened,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09very near the wharf and the girls that worked there came out
0:11:09 > 0:11:12and pelted these poor English girls with biscuits
0:11:14 > 0:11:18and swore at them and didn't make them very welcome at all.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Rose settled in Melbourne and had two daughters,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Christine's mum June and her older sister Beryl.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32My nana taught us about family values and how important family is.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34'Christine and her husband Paul, sister Jan
0:11:34 > 0:11:38'and dad Bill all remember Nana Rose fondly.'
0:11:38 > 0:11:42She was still cooking roast dinners at 90...what? 96.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44And she would still do the beans.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Mum took over the roast dinner, but Nana would sit there and do the beans.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Nana was just there, the whole time.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51She lived with us, she came on holidays with us.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56She lived till she was over 100. And she adored all of us, as we did her.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Very much a part of my childhood and my adulthood.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03And not only looked after me, but looked after my children, as well.
0:12:03 > 0:12:04She was wonderful.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Christine and her mother June
0:12:07 > 0:12:10always wanted to know about their family in England.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14But Nana Rose divulged very little to them.
0:12:14 > 0:12:15Nana was a really private person
0:12:15 > 0:12:19and she really had put her English life behind her.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23It turned out that, before Rose met her Australian serviceman,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26she'd been married to an English man named Richard.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29The events surrounding this marriage may explain why Rose started
0:12:29 > 0:12:33a new life abroad and also her reticence to discuss
0:12:33 > 0:12:35her previous life in England.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41That was her love, really. That was her first love. And he was...
0:12:41 > 0:12:46They were married in the morning and he went to the war,
0:12:46 > 0:12:51over to France, in the afternoon and he was never seen again.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53It's very, very sad.
0:12:53 > 0:12:59I've got love letters from Richard to Rosie. She kept the letters.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03She would have been 17, at this point.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05They've been written quite close together.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08This one was dated June 1st, 1915,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13which was just before he was deployed to France.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18While it's understandable that Rose would find it hard
0:13:18 > 0:13:21to talk about this period of her past,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23for Christine, it's meant a lifetime of not knowing
0:13:23 > 0:13:27where she came from or who her English family were.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31I grew up close to my other aunts and uncles, so...
0:13:33 > 0:13:36..it's a little bit sad, in a way.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Christine and her mother June tried to find out what they could.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43She wrote to various people, but in the days
0:13:43 > 0:13:46when Mum was looking, there wasn't any internet.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It was actually quite difficult to trace back.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53All they had to go on were a handful of photographs Nana Rose
0:13:53 > 0:13:55had of her previous life.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- Were was... Where did you find these photos?- Nana had these.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01And I believe that that's Nana and Winifred.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07One photo was of her as a child in 1899 with her sister Winifred,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11who died, not long after the photo was taken, of diphtheria,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14a highly-infectious childhood disease.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18The second photo was of a home-made memorial cross
0:14:18 > 0:14:22lying in an Essex graveyard, in remembrance of little Winifred.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28It was a cross that was hand-carved by my great-grandfather
0:14:28 > 0:14:30for his little girl - Nana's sister -
0:14:30 > 0:14:32who had died at four years of age.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37That photo has since been lost, but Christine still remembers
0:14:37 > 0:14:41the inscription Winifred's father had written on the cross.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45Her father had carved, "Is it well with the child? It is well."
0:14:46 > 0:14:48A quote from the Bible,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52this simple inscription had great resonance with Christine.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Nana Rose died in 1998, aged 100.
0:14:56 > 0:15:02There was money in her will for Mum and Dad to bring me back to the UK.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Keen to make a connection with their English past,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08but with no known living relatives to visit,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10they made a pilgrimage to the graveyard
0:15:10 > 0:15:12in Rose's hometown of Ongar.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18That's when I first saw the little hand-carved cross.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24We spent a lot of time just sitting there,
0:15:24 > 0:15:29just trying to absorb the atmosphere.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33This little baby Winifred... she was my great-aunt.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37And I sat there for quite a long time, just beside her,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41because no-one had been remembering her for a very long time.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45So I was pleased to be the one to be doing it
0:15:45 > 0:15:48and remembering this little precious soul.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52Feeling a profound sense of loss for her English family,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Christine felt moved to leave a note,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58thanking ground staff for preserving the little cross.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00I popped the note under the gardener's door
0:16:00 > 0:16:05and I really thought that I would never hear back from that.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09The note Christine left also asked
0:16:09 > 0:16:12for any information on other family members
0:16:12 > 0:16:16and it was the beginning of a remarkable series of events.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19The postcard found its way to the desk of Judith Cook,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22deputy clerk at Ongar Town Council.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25"Thank you for caring for the small wooden cross
0:16:25 > 0:16:26"leaning against the tree.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28"It belongs to Winifred Holt,
0:16:28 > 0:16:33"who died of diphtheria at about four years of age, around the 1890s.
0:16:33 > 0:16:39"The cross was made by her father, Ephram Holt, my great-grandfather.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42"If you have any more information on this family, I would appreciate it.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44"Christine St Aubyn."
0:16:44 > 0:16:47I'm quite interested in history, anyway,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51so to be able to help other people with their family history is lovely.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53At the time that I looked in the cemetery records,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55I couldn't find her.
0:16:55 > 0:17:01The handwriting is quite old and of an old-fashioned style.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05But then, in September that year, I had a call from Mr Matthews,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09who was also looking for the same little girl.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12And because they were within a few months of each other,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15the name rang a bell and I remembered who it was.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19I looked again and I did find her in our burial records.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Just the fact that they were looking for the same little girl
0:17:23 > 0:17:25within a couple of months of each other,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27that was the strange coincidence for me.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Judith e-mailed me back and said,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33"You'll never guess - somebody else is looking for this family,
0:17:33 > 0:17:34"and particularly for this baby."
0:17:34 > 0:17:41This extraordinary coincidence would lead to Christine making the journey back to the UK once again.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Finding relatives or ancestors overseas can be
0:17:46 > 0:17:48a hard and daunting task,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52so here's some advice on how to go about it.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Start by looking at the immigration and emigration records in the UK,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00which are available at the National Archives.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02These often provide key information,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05such as date of arrival or departure,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09date and place of birth, marital status, children,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12occupation and the names of parents.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Having these details should give you a solid base
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and direction for moving your search abroad.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21If you do decide to travel overseas,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23it's a good idea to comb the internet first
0:18:23 > 0:18:27for other people's experiences of tracing in that country.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29This will save you time once on the ground.
0:18:31 > 0:18:32But remember,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35it may be that you don't have to leave the country, at all.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Many records are available online
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and in the internet age, it's easier than ever
0:18:39 > 0:18:42to connect with people from around the world
0:18:42 > 0:18:44from the comfort of your living room.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Jonathan Fryer was adopted as a baby in the 1950s,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59but he was never given any details.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02I knew that my adopted parents had met my mother.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06They refused point-blank to tell me who she was.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09When I said, "Surely there must be some documents or something?"
0:19:09 > 0:19:12They said, "No, we've destroyed everything.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13"You will never find out."
0:19:13 > 0:19:16As an adult, he obtained his birth certificate
0:19:16 > 0:19:18and discovered his real name.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21I was no longer Jonathan Harold Fryer -
0:19:21 > 0:19:23which I never really felt I was -
0:19:23 > 0:19:25but Graeme Leslie Morton.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29And he finally discovered who his real mother was.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34- TEARFULLY:- Suddenly, there was my mother's name.
0:19:34 > 0:19:40And this was really the key to open the door to the paper trail.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43But it wasn't just his mum he'd found -
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Jonathan also discovered he had a half-sister,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48but fearing rejection,
0:19:48 > 0:19:50he abandoned all hope of ever making contact
0:19:50 > 0:19:52with any of his birth family.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Having, in a sense, been rejected,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59I just couldn't bear to go through that again.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02But what he didn't know was that his half-sister Denise
0:20:02 > 0:20:04was also looking for him.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05I have always known about him.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09I can't remember a time that me mother sat down
0:20:09 > 0:20:13and told me about him, but I've just always known about Jonathan.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Denise was born just after the end of World War II.
0:20:17 > 0:20:22I was born in 1945, in Irlam, near Manchester.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29Shortly after, my mother and father moved to Bristol.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32And we lived there for a year and then we came back.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34My mother and I came back on the train
0:20:34 > 0:20:38and my father never appeared for Christmas
0:20:38 > 0:20:41and I never saw him again after that.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45Me mother and I lived with my grandparents in Irlam
0:20:45 > 0:20:48for the next nine, ten years.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52During that time, she obviously had a relationship with someone,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55who, unfortunately, I don't know much about,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58and found that she was pregnant.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01She felt that there was no way that she could bring shame on the family
0:21:01 > 0:21:06by staying at home. So as soon as she started to show, that was it.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10She went away to a home for unmarried mothers.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14From what she said, it sounded like a dreadful life there.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17They weren't treated well. They had to scrub floors,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20clean windows, worked all day
0:21:20 > 0:21:23and were really made to feel as though they had to be punished
0:21:23 > 0:21:25because they were unmarried mothers.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29In 1950s Britain,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33falling pregnant out of wedlock was very much a scandal.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39It was very much frowned upon. Your family might be quite ashamed of it.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41The local community would talk about it
0:21:41 > 0:21:43and it was something that needed to be hidden away.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47And so people were sent away to mother and baby homes,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49where they could have a baby in secret
0:21:49 > 0:21:52and then return to normal life afterwards.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55A Victorian invention,
0:21:55 > 0:22:00as late as 1968, there were still 172 mother and baby homes in the UK.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06A lot of these homes were run by religious institutions
0:22:06 > 0:22:09and day-to-day reality was often harsh.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13There was really a feeling of being punished for what they had done.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14In some mother and baby homes,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17women were exposed to very poor conditions.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19They were in buildings that were in need of upkeep,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22they were cold, they were forced to share bedrooms
0:22:22 > 0:22:24where they might not have done when they'd been at home.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28For some women, being in mother and baby homes wasn't an easy task.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30They were taken in late in their pregnancies
0:22:30 > 0:22:34and they had to work long days doing really quite hard tasks
0:22:34 > 0:22:36that would have been backbreaking at the best of times,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38let alone when heavily pregnant.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Soon after giving birth, the women would return to their home towns
0:22:42 > 0:22:48and their babies would be adopted, making traceability incredibly hard.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50You find that women are having babies
0:22:50 > 0:22:51in areas they don't really know
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and sometimes the information that's given on those babies
0:22:54 > 0:22:58and the mothers is incorrect or incomplete.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Whilst today, for us, it seems just a horrific thought,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05having to be sent away to the other side of the country
0:23:05 > 0:23:07and have a baby in secret and shame,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11it was actually providing ladies with a way of sorting out
0:23:11 > 0:23:15the problem that they had got themselves into.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Despite the difficult decision Joyce had made, ultimately,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21she may have felt that it would give the young Jonathan
0:23:21 > 0:23:23the chance of a better life.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27She felt as though she couldn't afford to keep a child
0:23:27 > 0:23:30and offer another child any sort of a life,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33so she thought she was doing the best by Jonathan,
0:23:33 > 0:23:35by letting him be adopted by a couple
0:23:35 > 0:23:39that she thought would give him everything that she couldn't.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45She was so sorry that she couldn't have kept him
0:23:45 > 0:23:47and that we couldn't have been a family together.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51It's something that I don't think you ever get over.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Denise's mother Joyce later remarried
0:23:54 > 0:23:56and Denise and her younger half-sister Gill
0:23:56 > 0:24:01grew up in the corner shop their parents ran in the town of Eccles.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06The shop was not far from where Jonathan lived and went to school.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11She used to go to the school gates to see him leaving or arriving.
0:24:11 > 0:24:17Just being able to see Jonathan made her feel better.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21I think Mum really kept watch over him
0:24:21 > 0:24:23until, probably, he went to grammar school.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28She knew that he'd got a scholarship to Manchester Grammar,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31which thrilled her to bits.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34However strong her emotional connection to Jonathan,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Joyce didn't want to run the risk of upsetting his stable childhood.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43I think me mum felt guilty all her life, really.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45She was glad that he had a good life.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48She didn't want to interfere in it,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52because she wouldn't have wanted to ruin any part of his life.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58Decades later and with her mother now in the later years of her life,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Denise felt it was time to try and track Jonathan down.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Before Mother passed away,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08I wanted to find Jonathan,
0:25:08 > 0:25:13because I knew Mum would have loved to have known what he was doing.
0:25:13 > 0:25:14When we first got computers,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19we were on various sites looking for birth details.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21I didn't tell her that I was searching,
0:25:21 > 0:25:26because I didn't want her to be upset if we couldn't find him.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29I just wanted to surprise her and, unfortunately,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31I didn't get the chance to do that,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34because I looked and looked and couldn't find
0:25:34 > 0:25:37any details of him, at all.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42While Denise knew about Jonathan, her younger sister Gillian did not.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47I just assumed that me mother had told her everything about Jonathan,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49just as she'd told me,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and it wasn't until last year that we realised
0:25:52 > 0:25:55that Gillian didn't know anything about Jonathan.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58It was only when Denise's daughter rang Gillian,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00in the course of doing the family tree,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03that Gillian learnt of Jonathan's existence.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06She said, "I need to ask you something.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09"I've been meaning to ask you for ages and ages and I keep forgetting.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12"Do you ever think about Jonathan?"
0:26:12 > 0:26:14I said, "Well, Jonathan who?"
0:26:14 > 0:26:17And she said, "Your brother, Jonathan!"
0:26:17 > 0:26:20"I haven't got a brother...
0:26:20 > 0:26:23"or have I?
0:26:23 > 0:26:25"I think you'd better put your mum on.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28The latest generation of internet search engines
0:26:28 > 0:26:32meant Gill could find Jonathan online in no time at all.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37After the phone call, I just googled "Jonathan Fryer, Eccles"
0:26:37 > 0:26:42and up popped his public profile page.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46It was just incredible.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48In the early life section,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52it says that he was born under the name of Graeme Leslie Morton
0:26:52 > 0:26:55and as soon as I saw that, I thought,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57"This has got to be him."
0:26:57 > 0:27:02It's really strange, because ten minutes earlier,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04I had no idea I had a brother
0:27:04 > 0:27:07and then, ten minutes later, I've got a brother
0:27:07 > 0:27:09and I've found him.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12We couldn't believe that I'd been searching for years
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and couldn't find him and, within ten minutes,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17she'd found our brother.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21It was so, so wonderful,
0:27:21 > 0:27:26but heartbreaking as well, because me mum had already died
0:27:26 > 0:27:28and she would have been so thrilled.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33Denise then wrote to Jonathan.
0:27:36 > 0:27:37Absolutely out of the blue,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40I got a letter and as soon as I opened the letter
0:27:40 > 0:27:43and saw the signature at the bottom - Denise -
0:27:43 > 0:27:47I knew it must be her, because I'd never forgotten that name,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50although it was 20 years since I'd done the search.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52And she starts, "Dear Jonathan,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56"this is a difficult, but exciting, letter to write
0:27:56 > 0:28:00"and I hope you will not find it an intrusion into your life.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04"I am quite sure that you are my half-brother.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08"My mother was Joyce Morton, nee Ashcroft
0:28:08 > 0:28:12"of 64 Baines Avenue, Irlam, Manchester.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15"If you would be interested in filling in some of the history
0:28:15 > 0:28:18"of your birth mother's side of the family
0:28:18 > 0:28:21"and/or wish to have contact with Gillian and myself,
0:28:21 > 0:28:22"we'd be more than happy."
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And at the bottom of Denise's letter, she's written,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30"P.S. Mum never forgot you, ever,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34"as I will, hopefully, have the chance to tell you."
0:28:37 > 0:28:42It was the most amazing feeling, suddenly to realise that,
0:28:42 > 0:28:47actually, all my worries and concerns were groundless
0:28:47 > 0:28:52and that, far from not wanting to have anything to do with me,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54at last, I had a family who did want me.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05In St Albans, retired geography teacher John Matthews
0:29:05 > 0:29:09has been researching his family tree for nearly ten years.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Unbeknown to him, in Australia,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Christine St Aubyn was looking for exactly the same relatives.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19I was born in 1947, in Wanstead in East London,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23and my family lived in Leyton in East London.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26John became a teacher, married and had a son.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29He was born in 1980.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33My wife passed away very shortly after he was born.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37John raised his son with the help of his parents and extended family.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43All through my life, the family has been the thing.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47We've been part of a large family group.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51Yeah, the family was everything to us.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54In the course of plotting his family tree,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58John had previously been in contact with Judith at Ongar Town Council
0:29:58 > 0:29:59about his family records.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02So I rang up Judith and said,
0:30:02 > 0:30:09"Can you just check this one record for me? Winifred Holt, aged four."
0:30:09 > 0:30:11And she then rang me back.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15She said, "I've had some other people
0:30:15 > 0:30:21"asking about this same Winifred Holt's graveyard in 1899."
0:30:23 > 0:30:25I just couldn't believe it.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28I was absolutely flabbergasted and curious,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30and, sort of, elated.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33I said, "What can we do now? Where do we go from here?"
0:30:33 > 0:30:35I asked Mr Matthews if it would be OK
0:30:35 > 0:30:38to pass on his details to Christine and he said yes.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41So I put them in touch with each other
0:30:41 > 0:30:43and they found out that they were related.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46I can't believe it.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50After 16 years of searching for her lost English family,
0:30:50 > 0:30:54Christine was absolutely thrilled to have discovered John, her cousin.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57So, in the first e-mail, I write to John, I'm very formal and I say,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01"Hello, Mr Matthews." Because I didn't know how he would receive us.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03I didn't know if he wanted to know us.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05I didn't want to put any pressure on him.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07But really I was saying, "Write back! Write back!
0:31:07 > 0:31:09"I need to know about you!"
0:31:09 > 0:31:12And before I got onto the e-mail,
0:31:12 > 0:31:17I'd had this e-mail from Australia, saying, "I think we're cousins."
0:31:18 > 0:31:21And that was the night, we sat up, most of the night,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24e-mailing each other backwards and forwards. It was such a thrill!
0:31:25 > 0:31:29Well, I'm saying, "Who are you? What's your connection?
0:31:29 > 0:31:31"Why are you looking into this family?"
0:31:31 > 0:31:36Unbeknown to Christine, her Nana Rose had another sister, Rita,
0:31:36 > 0:31:37who is John's grandmother.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40She knew nothing about my grandmother Rita.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44I knew nothing about her grandmother, so we exchanged a lot.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47She sent me some photographs and I sent her some photographs.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49It just blossomed from there.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53We have actually found a whole new family,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55we've found a whole new branch of the family.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Just a few weeks after finding cousin John, Christine,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06her sister, her husband and her father have arrived in England
0:32:06 > 0:32:09to meet him for the very first time.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14It will be such a thrill to actually meet them.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16We've been to Ongar several times now
0:32:16 > 0:32:21and these people have been within a stone's throw of us all this time.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23So we've been running along parallel lines
0:32:23 > 0:32:26and now we've touched.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29For John, the years of researching his family tree
0:32:29 > 0:32:33are finally yielding what he searched for all along -
0:32:33 > 0:32:36a whole new group of relatives who have travelled all the way over
0:32:36 > 0:32:39from the other side of the world.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Hopefully, in a very short space of time,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45I shall be driving into the council offices
0:32:45 > 0:32:49where I shall meet this cousin, Christine.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51I'm getting a bit nervous now!
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Family is everything to us, so this is a very big day.
0:33:00 > 0:33:01Very exciting.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04A bit... Oh, my heart's really pounding!
0:33:06 > 0:33:08Here we go!
0:33:13 > 0:33:16As John waits nervously for Christine's arrival...
0:33:16 > 0:33:19- All right? - Hello, you gorgeous girl! Thank you!
0:33:19 > 0:33:21..Christine is greeted by Judith,
0:33:21 > 0:33:25the woman without whom this meeting would never have happened.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Me? Oh, thank you!
0:33:27 > 0:33:29Thank you.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31John's nerves are getting the better of him.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35It's been building up and building up to us meeting.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Quite nervous. In fact, I'm hugely nervous.
0:33:38 > 0:33:39I can't believe you did this for us.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42It's no problem. It's my pleasure.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45I'm going to cry. I wasn't... I'm not going to cry.
0:33:48 > 0:33:49DOOR OPENS
0:33:49 > 0:33:51Here we go.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56SHE LAUGHS
0:33:56 > 0:34:00- Christine...- Come here, you!
0:34:00 > 0:34:02- Oh, dear!- I can't believe...
0:34:02 > 0:34:05- I'm so wound up, I don't know about you.- I know.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Oh, well done for getting here. Brilliant.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Christine is wearing Nana Rose's wedding ring.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13I've got Nana's wedding ring.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16- Have you? Oh, that's nice. How nice is that?- Yeah.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20So...I had to wear it to show you.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23- That's brilliant.- Yeah. - That goes back to...1920?
0:34:23 > 0:34:26- Well, she wore it for...- 1919?
0:34:26 > 0:34:30- She wore it for nearly 80 years.- Good grief.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34- And then my mum wore it and now I'm custodian.- That's brilliant.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36Isn't it a great shame
0:34:36 > 0:34:40that we couldn't meet our older relatives earlier. Isn't it?
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Well, I came to find out a lot about my other relatives from you.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45And me vice-versa, so...
0:34:46 > 0:34:48I can't believe it.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52- This is my husband, Paul.- Hello, Paul.- Cousin John.- Hello, John.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55'While their grandmothers are no longer around,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59'other members of John's new-found family are here to greet him.'
0:34:59 > 0:35:01THEY CHUCKLE
0:35:01 > 0:35:04'Then it's time to pay their respects to Winifred,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07'the little girl who brought them all together.'
0:35:09 > 0:35:13- Our great-grandfather made that.- Yeah.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15- Well, you've brought us together, little one.- Absolutely.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Beautiful girl.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22Yeah.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26She's our great-aunt. You're quite right, our great-aunt.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Yeah, well, you are not forgotten.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39If it hadn't been for that old photo that my nana had kept,
0:35:39 > 0:35:43- we would never have known who this little cross belonged to.- No.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46She's added something to my life, you know?
0:35:46 > 0:35:48- Just by having been there.- Yeah.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50And you've added something to my life, having been there.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53It's so good to be here. So good to be here.
0:35:53 > 0:35:54- Absolutely.- Believe it.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01All of us know there's a...
0:36:01 > 0:36:03We've got a long way to go,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07exchanging stories and information and so on.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11We've got the rest of our lives now to share it together.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16It's...lovely to have reconnected with this family.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20It's taken us nearly 100 years to be able to reconnect the family.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23So, it's a very special day and I hope...
0:36:23 > 0:36:25I hope that our relatives are all watching
0:36:25 > 0:36:28and are enjoying this as much as we are.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Jonathan Fryer and his half-sisters Denise and Gill
0:36:39 > 0:36:43have recently been reunited, after a lifetime apart.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48They all spent their childhood in the town of Eccles,
0:36:48 > 0:36:52unaware how close they were to each other as they grew up.
0:36:52 > 0:36:53Today, they're meeting up again
0:36:53 > 0:36:56to show Jonathan something of importance
0:36:56 > 0:36:58that he hasn't seen before.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Jonathan recognises the streets
0:37:00 > 0:37:03where his sisters lived with their mum.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06So many of the streets around here are familiar.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09It's really quite chilling, in a way, to think
0:37:09 > 0:37:12that she was here all that time.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15And...I didn't know.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Denise and Gill have arranged to meet Jonathan
0:37:19 > 0:37:21at the former local corner shop
0:37:21 > 0:37:23where they grew up with their mum, Joyce.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27It's only the second time I've seen Gill.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29Denise, it'll be the third time.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34So, it's great to have this opportunity to...
0:37:34 > 0:37:38to meet them again and also to put everything in context.
0:37:38 > 0:37:39There they are.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45Hello. Lovely to see you.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49Nice to see you.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52- Hello.- Nice see you. And how are you?
0:37:52 > 0:37:56- Oh, I'm fine, thanks.- Good. - It's been quite emotional, but...
0:37:56 > 0:37:58- Yes, yes, yes.- I can imagine.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Putting everything together now, all the little bits of the jigsaw.
0:38:01 > 0:38:02This is number five.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08This is number five, where we were brought up.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Yes, it sold everything - a real old-fashioned corner shop.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14- So this bit was a shop? - Yes, this was a shop window.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18- No, it's amazing to think you were just here and...- Yes.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22- I know, and you were so near. - Yes.- So near.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25Mother must have been able to just walk to the school.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28- It's well within walking distance.- Yes, yes, yes.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33Unaware they were growing up so close to each other,
0:38:33 > 0:38:37Gillian is now able to solve a lifelong mystery.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40I always wondered why we ended up in Eccles.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43- But now we know why. - Now we know why, yeah.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45It seems their mother, Joyce, moved to Eccles
0:38:45 > 0:38:49so she could continue to keep a close eye on her son, Jonathan.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Jonathan takes them to his old primary school,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56just a couple of miles away from the corner shop.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59From what you've said, Denise,
0:38:59 > 0:39:04I imagine when Mother came to walk by and see if she could see me,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07she must have stood at these gates here.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14I just felt very emotional coming around the corner, then.
0:39:14 > 0:39:15Seeing the railings and...
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Because she's often said, you know,
0:39:18 > 0:39:22"I used to stand at the railings, looking, watching him play.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24"And seeing him arriving in the morning
0:39:24 > 0:39:26- "and leaving in the afternoon."- Yeah.
0:39:28 > 0:39:33I mean, it's so sad, in many ways, that she felt, understandably,
0:39:33 > 0:39:35in that age, that she had to give me up,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37- that it really wasn't possible... - Oh, yes, yes.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42..in that period, to keep a child in those circumstances.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45- It must have been awful for her. - Oh, dreadful.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50- And to... Years looking.- Yes, yes.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54I think it must be the worst thing that could ever happen to a woman,
0:39:54 > 0:39:57- having to give up a child. - Yeah.- The worst thing.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Really terrible.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04But at least now, you know that she never forgot you,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07she was always looking over you.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10- Watching over you.- Yeah.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13- That's good. But it makes it harder, as well.- Yes, yes, yes.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27So, for the first time, I'll actually see
0:40:27 > 0:40:31where Mother is buried, but...
0:40:31 > 0:40:33it's a bit bittersweet, really,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36because it will be my first encounter with her
0:40:36 > 0:40:37since the day she gave me up.
0:40:41 > 0:40:435th November...
0:40:49 > 0:40:55It gives us a certain closure, which is good.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59I hadn't, until now, felt able to do that,
0:40:59 > 0:41:02but today was absolutely the right moment to come
0:41:02 > 0:41:06and to make, almost, a pilgrimage to the grave,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08to show our love and respect,
0:41:08 > 0:41:13and to forge that bond which has now been recreated between us,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16so we have that shared memory.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Now, it's time to try and catch up on all the years they've lost.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28- This is Gillian and I when we were little...- Goodness.- ..with Mum.
0:41:28 > 0:41:34- Uh-huh. She certainly looks very jolly and happy.- Oh, she was, yes.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36She was a very happy person.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38- That's my mum.- There's Mum.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45I can't imagine
0:41:45 > 0:41:50how his life was, without knowing who he was.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54And that...that must just be amazing for him to find out.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57I like the way she's looking straight at you.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02- Yes, yes. Yes, you've got the same colour eyes as her.- Really?
0:42:02 > 0:42:07Yes. Yeah. Neither of us have, but you've got her eyes. Yes. Yeah.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12It's definitely an emotional journey for everybody.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14I'm glad we did it, though.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16Really glad we did it.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19It's such a shame that he can't be part
0:42:19 > 0:42:22of all that went on but, hopefully, we've got plenty more things
0:42:22 > 0:42:25going to be happening in the future.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29She would be really chuffed to see us all sat here,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32of all places, on the bench together,
0:42:32 > 0:42:36- just a few yards away from where she is.- Oh, yes, yes.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39She would have been so pleased that we've been able to find each other.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44- Mm-hm.- We can keep in touch now the rest of our lives.- Yeah, absolutely.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47- There's no hiding from us now!- Oh, well...
0:42:47 > 0:42:49No, that's it, we're afraid you've got us now.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55It is terrific that, after 64 years,
0:42:55 > 0:43:00we've been able to put back together the family that was broken apart,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03which none of us would have wanted at the time.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07And for anyone who is in a similar situation,
0:43:07 > 0:43:09it's never too late.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11It's always worth trying.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15It's just an amazing feeling, suddenly, to know who I am.