0:00:02 > 0:00:04Families can be driven apart for all manner of reasons.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07I had no information at all about where my mum went.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10And when you do lose touch with your loved ones...
0:00:10 > 0:00:12You don't know who you are, where you've come from.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14..finding them can take a lifetime...
0:00:14 > 0:00:18I might have a brother that's still living here.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23..especially when they could be anywhere - at home or abroad.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26And that's where the family finders come in.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28From international organisations...
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Hi, it's the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34..to genealogy detective agencies...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37For someone to say that it's changed their life,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40it makes coming to work really, really special.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42..and dedicated one-man bands...
0:00:42 > 0:00:46It's a matter of how much effort you really want to put into it,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48how badly you want to solve the problem.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52..they hunt through history to bring families back together again.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Finding new family is wonderful.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59In this series, we follow the work of the family finders...
0:00:59 > 0:01:04Suddenly, you get one spark of breakthrough and there they are.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06..learning the tricks they use
0:01:06 > 0:01:08to track missing relatives through time...
0:01:08 > 0:01:13I didn't think I'd ever find sisters but I have.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17..and meeting the people whose lives they change along the way.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19I've been waiting to meet John my whole life.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Since we've met, I feel part of a family again.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26You've just completed my life for me.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Every year, thousands of people across the UK
0:01:35 > 0:01:38set about searching for long-lost family members.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41No two searches are ever quite the same.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Often a search will throw up unexpected results
0:01:45 > 0:01:50and it can take something completely unexpected for a search to succeed.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Today, we hear how a boy, adopted as a baby,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58finally found family to call his own.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02I had a tap on the shoulder and there they were.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06That was... That was something else.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12And we meet two sisters who spent 50 years apart
0:02:12 > 0:02:14and led completely different lives.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20I was absolutely fascinated by meeting someone
0:02:20 > 0:02:22that looked so much like me.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Rob Skinner was born in Croydon in 1943.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33The family didn't have much in the way of money
0:02:33 > 0:02:37and lived on a council estate.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Nice three-bedroom house.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43My two sisters were older than me.
0:02:43 > 0:02:50June was 12 years, Cath, 15 years older.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56My father left my mother when I was about three years of age.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00A few years after his dad left,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Rob's mum started a long-term relationship
0:03:03 > 0:03:07with a man Rob affectionately referred to as Uncle Albert
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and the family began taking in foster children.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16We had a succession of foster children, boys and girls.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21We never had much money but we did, we did enjoy life.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Contented family life in the Skinner household continued
0:03:24 > 0:03:26until, at the age of 16,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29a shocking revelation was to change Rob's life forever.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34I left school
0:03:34 > 0:03:40and my prospective employer wanted to see my birth certificate.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44I can vividly remember Ma looking for the certificate
0:03:44 > 0:03:48and, while she was doing so, called out to me,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51"Of course, you realise you were adopted."
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Oh, no, I didn't.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59This was the first intimation that I'd had and...
0:04:00 > 0:04:04..I was taken aback a bit.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Despite the fact that he'd grown up
0:04:08 > 0:04:11in an ever-changing household of foster children,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15until now, Rob had no clue that the woman he'd grown up calling Mum
0:04:15 > 0:04:17wasn't, in fact, related to him.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23I'd seen foster brothers and sisters come along and go.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28I always assumed that I was the real deal.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Rob put the adoption shock behind him and got on with his life.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37He went on to become an insurance salesman, met Brenda,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39married and had three children.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42There were times when I wondered who my...
0:04:43 > 0:04:46..mother and father might be,
0:04:46 > 0:04:52but I never, ever asked Ma for detail.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56The main reason why I wasn't curious
0:04:56 > 0:04:59about my blood mother and father
0:04:59 > 0:05:04was because I was, I guess, supremely happy with where I was
0:05:04 > 0:05:07and didn't want to rock the boat.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13It wasn't until Rob was in his 60s, and his adoptive mum had died,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15that he felt free to explore his origins.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21This is the adoption order that shows my mother's name -
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Pauline Blanche Turner, and, it being such an unusual name,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30a match was made in a very straightforward manner.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Rob soon discovered that he wasn't alone in his online search
0:05:34 > 0:05:37for information on his birth mother.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Rob's daughter-in-law acted quickly and composed a message.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46I opened the e-mail. It's very sensitively written.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49"I am aware that this may be a delicate subject.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52"His father, Robin, was born in April, 1943,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54"to a Pauline Blanche Turner.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56"He was not aware that he was adopted
0:05:56 > 0:05:58"until he needed his birth certificate."
0:05:58 > 0:06:00There's only one Pauline Blanche Turner on the website
0:06:00 > 0:06:02and that's my mother.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05After an agonising wait,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Rob received the response he was hoping for.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11On 24th January,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14we had an e-mail from Martin,
0:06:14 > 0:06:20who identified himself as a son of Pauline.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26"I will be very willing to help you in any way with information
0:06:26 > 0:06:29"and I've been trying to find Robin for the previous seven years,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31"after talking to my mother about him.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34"With best wishes, Martin."
0:06:36 > 0:06:42That, indeed, was the eureka moment when we knew we had family.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46After many years of searching for his birth mother,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Rob had stumbled across a real-life blood brother.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52But there was more to come.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56It appears that we have a man who was jilted.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59It's really intriguing because it's just not the story
0:06:59 > 0:07:02that we've been following, is it, all these years?
0:07:06 > 0:07:11Sue De-Haven was born to a single mother in 1960.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15I was born in a Salvation Army hospital in Bristol.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18After I was born,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21my birth mother experienced quite a lot of health problems,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25so I wasn't able to be with her consistently.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Sue never knew her father and soon after her birth,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32her mother met a new partner.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35She married in 1961,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38approximately a year after I was born
0:07:38 > 0:07:42and had another daughter called Eileen,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45who was 17 months younger than me.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48After Eileen was born,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51we were both with our mother for a short period of time
0:07:51 > 0:07:56until, unfortunately, she wasn't well
0:07:56 > 0:08:00and we both went into care into Downend babies home.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07Eileen was discharged from the baby home and went to live with her dad.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Sue remained and was taken under the wing
0:08:09 > 0:08:12of a young nurse called Dilys Jenkins,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14who worked at the children's home.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17She was allowed to take me home at weekends
0:08:17 > 0:08:23as part of her NNEB training final papers.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27She took me home to her parents'
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and, um, they immediately fell in love me
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and I started to go there for weekends regularly.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39I used to cry and scream and make an awful fuss
0:08:39 > 0:08:42when I had to go back to the children's home.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47On a visit in early 1963,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51um, whilst visiting Chippenham with Dilys,
0:08:51 > 0:08:57we had the worst snow in the West Country for a lot of years
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and we were snowed in for three months.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06During that time, Dilys and her parents decided
0:09:06 > 0:09:11there was no way that they ever wanted to part with me again
0:09:11 > 0:09:13and they sought to adopt me.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20My adoptive parents would have liked to have fostered both Eileen and I
0:09:20 > 0:09:25but, unfortunately, they really didn't have the choice
0:09:25 > 0:09:28as whether they could have fostered both of us
0:09:28 > 0:09:30or adopted both of us, even.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Eileen remained in the care of her biological father,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35while her sister, Sue, had a happy childhood
0:09:35 > 0:09:38with Dilys and her parents in Chippenham.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41But never forgot her birth family.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43I absolutely adored my mum and dad
0:09:43 > 0:09:48but it doesn't take away that curiosity, I suppose,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53of wanting to know your natural roots.
0:09:55 > 0:10:02When my adoptive mum died, I felt, suddenly, like I had permission
0:10:02 > 0:10:05to find out a bit more about my birth family.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08With the desire to find blood relatives ignited,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Sue decided to trace her half-sister, Eileen.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13I started looking online
0:10:13 > 0:10:17to try and build my family tree from ancestral sites
0:10:17 > 0:10:21and it was more complex than I first realised.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Little did she know, just 20 miles away,
0:10:24 > 0:10:29someone else was intent on doing some family finding of their own.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33I feel a bit, like, um...jealous,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36because you had a really lovely upbringing and I...
0:10:36 > 0:10:38- Do you know what I mean? - Don't get upset.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41I sort of feel a bit jealous when I see all this.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51In Croydon, Rob Skinner had been trying to find his birth family,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53after finding out he'd been adopted during the war.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58A genealogy website had revealed that he wasn't the only one
0:10:58 > 0:11:02to be researching his natural mother, Pauline Blanche Turner,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04and any living relatives.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11Somebody was looking for relatives of Pauline Blanche Turner,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13which was a positive sign.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Rob had made contact with the mystery person
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and discovered it was, in fact, a brother, Martin,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22who he'd never known existed.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28Rob actually phoned up my flat and I was listening to his voice,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31how he spoke, looking for similarities.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33It's like an experience you've never experienced before,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35like something you've always wanted
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and then you get it, it's overwhelming,
0:11:37 > 0:11:42and you're thinking, "Say the right things and ask the right questions."
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Twins Martin and Sue were born to Pauline Blanche Turner
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and her second husband and grew up in Harpenden.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Our childhood was really happy.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58There was our natural father and mother and our older sister
0:11:58 > 0:12:02and it was just...
0:12:03 > 0:12:05- It was just really nice. - It was a happy time.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Yeah, it was a happy time.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Growing up, young Martin and Sue were completely unaware
0:12:11 > 0:12:14that their mother had had a baby from a previous relationship,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16who she had given up for adoption.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19But as they got older,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Pauline decided to share her secret with her children.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28I can remember being told about Rob around about the age of 14.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Mum just said that she'd had another child,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36but she was only young and she had him adopted
0:12:36 > 0:12:39when he was six months old and I asked her why
0:12:39 > 0:12:43and she just said because HER mother, my grandmother, told her to.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48- I think things were different in those days.- A lot different.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51- There was no support and it must have been horrendous.- Mmm.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54And I suppose she thought she was doing the best
0:12:54 > 0:12:56by giving Rob another chance.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01We were told that his father had been killed in the war.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04He was American, his father. And that's why Mum...
0:13:04 > 0:13:10She married his best friend to give the baby a father,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13but when they were due to return back to America,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15she didn't want to leave England.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18He went back and she stayed here.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25In 2005, Martin and Sue's mother, Pauline,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and moved into a care home.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32It was here she began to express regret
0:13:32 > 0:13:36about never having traced her first-born son, Rob.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39She must have been thinking about him, too,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41cos she instigated the conversation.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44With his mother's health failing,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Martin was determined to track down his half-brother.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51When my mum was in the nursing home,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55she did always ask me about Rob and then one day she asked me
0:13:55 > 0:13:59if I'd managed to find him and she was talking about him,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03saying she would have liked to have seen him. Um...
0:14:05 > 0:14:10It's just those last years in the care home, the way she looked at me.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12- Mmm.- Um...
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Like she was really hoping I'd found something and...
0:14:19 > 0:14:21HIS VOICE BREAKS WITH EMOTION
0:14:24 > 0:14:27You know, it just... It just never happened.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34I think she was hopeful when she said, "Have you found him?
0:14:34 > 0:14:37"Have you found Rob yet, Robin yet?" Cos she called him Robin.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41And I just said, "No." I just felt like I'd let her down.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45- HE SNIFFS - Don't be silly.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47You haven't let her down.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51- Yeah, but it would have been nice. - Mmm, it would have been.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Pauline died without ever being reunited with the son
0:14:57 > 0:14:59she had been forced to give up.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04But just a year later,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08the e-mail arrived that was to finally bring the siblings together.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13The brothers arranged to meet in London at Victoria Station.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18I was, not worried, but I thought, "What if it doesn't work out
0:15:18 > 0:15:20"and what if we've got nothing in common?"
0:15:20 > 0:15:23And Susan was all excited.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27I had a tap on the shoulder and there they were.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32That was... That was something else.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37- I couldn't stop looking at him when we met him.- Mmm.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42Rob is just the image. He's more like Mum than anybody, isn't he?
0:15:42 > 0:15:47Than any of us. He's so like her to look at.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50We talked a lot about my mother, what she did,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53what she was like, a little bit about the relationship
0:15:53 > 0:15:57that she'd had that brought me into the world.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02And it was..a remarkable experience.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Since their initial meeting,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09the siblings have been making up for lost time.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Today, Rob is heading to Cheshire to see the twins again
0:16:12 > 0:16:16and he's come armed with some more intriguing family research.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18I'm particularly looking forward to today
0:16:18 > 0:16:22because it's some time since Martin, Sue and I have got together
0:16:22 > 0:16:23and within the past couple of months,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26I've discovered some information about Mum
0:16:26 > 0:16:31that I think both Martin and Sue will find very interesting indeed.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34It will be nice to see Rob again cos it's been a long time.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36- Yeah, really good. It's been a year, hasn't it?- Yeah.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Catch up and give him this.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43- Well, I hope he likes it. I like it. - I'm sure he will. It's lovely.- Yeah.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53- Lovely to see you. You all right? - Mmm. It's been a long time.- It has.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56- Martin.- Oh, it's good to see you. You all right?- Yeah.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58- Shall we go in?- Yeah.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Martin has brought along a special gift for Rob,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04something he hopes will help bring him closer
0:17:04 > 0:17:06- to the family he never knew. - Whoa.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12- That is brilliant.- That's one you haven't got. That's Mum.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17That's her mother, our grandmother. And that was taken about 1920.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21That is HER mother, so that's your great-grandmother.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24- I just thought that would be nice for you to have.- Yeah.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Since being united with Martin and Sue,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Rob has been trying to find out more about his natural father.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33The story their mother gave the twins
0:17:33 > 0:17:35was that he'd died during the war.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39However, Rob's research has dug up two incredible revelations.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42We often wondered why the relationship
0:17:42 > 0:17:47between our mum and my dad didn't materialise
0:17:47 > 0:17:51but we never did get an answer on that.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53What we do have...
0:17:53 > 0:17:58are some letters that Dad wrote home to, initially, his cousin,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and so what we do have here are letters.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05They've stood the test of time.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10So, we see one there in February, '43.
0:18:10 > 0:18:11One for you, Martin.
0:18:11 > 0:18:1512th June, and there's some particular significance
0:18:15 > 0:18:19- in that date, you may remember. - That was when...
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Wasn't she getting married?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23We have Mum's wedding certificate
0:18:23 > 0:18:26which shows that she was actually getting married
0:18:26 > 0:18:28on that very same day.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31This gets stranger and stranger.
0:18:31 > 0:18:37Yes, and on that very day, my dad was writing home to his cousin,
0:18:37 > 0:18:42saying that he still hoped to marry Mum.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Martin and Sue had been told by their mother
0:18:47 > 0:18:49that she hadn't married Rob's father
0:18:49 > 0:18:52because he was killed in active service.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57- It appears that we have a man who was jilted.- Oh.
0:18:57 > 0:19:04But we don't know why and, as I say, that is just one side of the story.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06It's really intriguing because it's...
0:19:08 > 0:19:10It's just not the story that we've been following, is it,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12all these years?
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Tragically, Rob missed out on a reunion
0:19:14 > 0:19:16with both his natural parents.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21But Martin and Sue are determined to make Rob feel part of the family
0:19:21 > 0:19:22and have brought him to a special place
0:19:22 > 0:19:25that has played a big part in their lives.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28The reason why we wanted to bring you here today
0:19:28 > 0:19:33is because we've decided that we want to put Mum's ashes somewhere,
0:19:33 > 0:19:35so we're thinking of having them interred here.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40I'm pleased to have an input into family events.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45I deferred looking for my family...
0:19:46 > 0:19:49..my mother, in particular, for about 50 years
0:19:49 > 0:19:53and today somehow seems to be, in a way,
0:19:53 > 0:19:58the end of that journey and now is the time
0:19:58 > 0:20:01to actually enjoy these relatives.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11In Wiltshire, Sue De-Haven had hit a brick wall
0:20:11 > 0:20:15and had given up searching for her baby sister, Eileen,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18who she'd become separated from 50 years earlier.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22But, unbeknownst to Sue, a mere 20 miles away,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25the very same sister she'd been trying to find
0:20:25 > 0:20:27had been searching for her too.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Out of the blue, I received a message from Eileen's daughter
0:20:32 > 0:20:39on a social media site, saying that her mum had been looking for me.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43I was really shocked because I'd been trying to find Eileen
0:20:43 > 0:20:44for quite a long time.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49So, after years of trying and failing to find Eileen,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Eileen had finally found Sue,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55and the sisters were back in touch after 50 long years apart.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Eileen had been born 17 months after Sue in 1962,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05but their mother became unable to cope
0:21:05 > 0:21:08and both sisters ended up in a children's home.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I can't really remember much of when I was really little.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16I can just remember probably from when I was about two or three
0:21:16 > 0:21:21and that was going to Swindon to live with my dad.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Eileen's father gained custody
0:21:24 > 0:21:28and removed her from the home before also trying to get custody of Sue.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31When we were children,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35we actually went down to Chippenham to Sue's house.
0:21:35 > 0:21:36I can't remember all of it
0:21:36 > 0:21:39but I can remember going to Chippenham with our dad.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41I think what I was told
0:21:41 > 0:21:44is that Dad and that went down to try to get Sue.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48But Eileen's dad wasn't Sue's biological father
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and strong opposition from Sue's adoptive parents
0:21:51 > 0:21:53meant that she remained in Chippenham with them.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59And then I turned into quite an angry young teenager.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03I was sleeping rough, I was drinking,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07so I was, like, thinking, "I really wonder how Sue's life...
0:22:07 > 0:22:09"Has she got a happier life than me?"
0:22:10 > 0:22:13I think it was just sad that we didn't grow up together,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15being that we come from the same mother.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20Eileen eventually married and went on to have children of her own
0:22:20 > 0:22:24and it wasn't until her 50th birthday that she decided
0:22:24 > 0:22:28it was time to try to find the sister she'd lost.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32My daughter took Sue's name and went onto Facebook
0:22:32 > 0:22:37and done a search for me and there was a few Sues with that name
0:22:37 > 0:22:40but straightaway she come across the one that she said,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43"This is your sister, Mum. This is her."
0:22:44 > 0:22:47The sisters were soon speaking on the phone.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49We just couldn't stop talking.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51It was like we'd known each other for all the time.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53There was so much to talk about.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55We were on the phone for about four hours.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Sue and Eileen then arranged their first meeting
0:22:59 > 0:23:01at Swindon train station.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06When I first saw her, um, I knew it was her straightaway.
0:23:07 > 0:23:08We just chatted.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10It was just, like, amazing. It was just, like,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13I can't believe this has really happened after all these years.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16It's like I really can't believe it.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19I think it's fair to say that I couldn't take my eyes off of her.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23Um, I was absolutely fascinated
0:23:23 > 0:23:28by meeting someone that looked so much like me.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32It might have been 50 plus years since we'd seen each other last,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36but we had a lot of characteristics in common,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38which I found extraordinary.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43We've become closer and closer
0:23:43 > 0:23:48and...I feel like I've got my little sister back -
0:23:48 > 0:23:52my first experience of having a little sister.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Today, the two sisters are meeting again
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and this time, a special guest has been invited along too.
0:24:05 > 0:24:06- Hiya!- Hiya!
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Dilys is the nurse who was charged with looking after Sue
0:24:13 > 0:24:17in the children's home where both sisters lived all those years ago.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21This is the first picture I've got of me with Dilys...
0:24:21 > 0:24:23- Yeah.- Is that me?
0:24:23 > 0:24:26- I thought that was my mum! - No, that IS you!
0:24:29 > 0:24:33It was Dilys's parents who ended up adopting and raising Sue.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37- I haven't got as many photos as you, but I have got a couple.- Crikey!
0:24:37 > 0:24:39THEY LAUGH
0:24:39 > 0:24:40No, that's really funny.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Sue is keen to know more about how she'd been taken
0:24:45 > 0:24:49to stay with Dilys's parents, who then went on to adopt her.
0:24:50 > 0:24:57I was always told by Mum and Dad that you were able to bring me home
0:24:57 > 0:25:02to see how a child who hadn't had maternal bonding,
0:25:02 > 0:25:08er...reacted in an ordinary family environment.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13I've always wondered why I was allowed to take you home.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I just thought it was a policy that it gave
0:25:16 > 0:25:20the children in the residential home a bit of family life,
0:25:20 > 0:25:25a bit of a taste of family life. I just assumed that's what it was.
0:25:25 > 0:25:26But I had no idea.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29At this time, Eileen had been living
0:25:29 > 0:25:32in the same care home as her older sister.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35I used to bring Sue down to visit her baby sister
0:25:35 > 0:25:38and I would hold you then,
0:25:38 > 0:25:43so that Susan could, you know, pat you and look at you and love you.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46No-one's ever remembered old me as a tiny baby.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50No-one remembers going back that far, like me as a tiny baby.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53So, you're the first one I've actually met or spoke to
0:25:53 > 0:25:56that can remember old me as this tiny baby
0:25:56 > 0:25:59and then obviously, I was fostered out.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02- I don't know how long I was in there for. Do you know?- No.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04- You don't, obviously, know?- No. - No.- I don't, sorry.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08But I do know that Mum and Dad, at the time, would have loved
0:26:08 > 0:26:12- for you to have been with me as well, I think.- Yeah.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14But, of course, it wasn't possible.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18They did want you and they did...
0:26:19 > 0:26:22..sort of try to get you, if you like,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27- but they were blocked by your father.- Yeah.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32Because, well, you were his daughter and that was it.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35I don't want to feel that I'm betraying people
0:26:35 > 0:26:38when I say I feel a bit, like, um...
0:26:38 > 0:26:41jealous because you had a really lovely upbringing
0:26:41 > 0:26:45and your parents obviously worshipped her, so, yeah, I do...
0:26:45 > 0:26:49- But I've also got my own brothers and sisters.- Yeah.- And I...
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Do you know what I mean?
0:26:51 > 0:26:54- I don't want to feel that I'm betraying them...- Don't get upset.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57..when I say I feel a bit jealous when I see all this.
0:27:01 > 0:27:07I was a bit upset when I found out how Eileen's life had panned out,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09compared to Susan's life,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13but I'm delighted she seems to have come through it very well indeed.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18I would rather have been brought up with you included
0:27:18 > 0:27:20and grown up to have known Sue,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23like grown up to have known each other.
0:27:23 > 0:27:24That's probably how I would have liked it.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31- It means the world to me. - Good to have you back in my life.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33THEY KISS
0:27:34 > 0:27:38I know that we'll never lose contact again now. Um...
0:27:38 > 0:27:42She was the first blood relative that I've ever known
0:27:42 > 0:27:46and it's absolutely fantastic for me for me to have her in my life.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51I think it's been amazing meeting up with my sister after so many years.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Yeah, I feel a lot happier, now she's in my life.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58I love her, yeah, I do.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03We have started to become close again, after over 50 years,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06which is absolutely amazing.