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 > 0:00:09And when you do lose touch with your loved ones...
0:00:09 > 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 > 0:00:38For them to say that it's changed their life, it makes coming to work,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40you know, 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 families 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 just completed my life for me.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Families can lose contact for all sorts of reasons.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39But in the history of human civilisation,
0:01:39 > 0:01:44one thing above all others has been responsible
0:01:44 > 0:01:47for tearing families apart - war.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Today, we follow the stories of two families,
0:01:50 > 0:01:55both split up by the huge upheaval created by the Second World War
0:01:55 > 0:01:58and both left unresolved for decades.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Wendy Stringer has been searching for answers
0:02:02 > 0:02:04to a 70-year-old wartime family mystery.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08She never got to see her son.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14That she must have always loved.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19And Maureen Cooper's search for her birth mother began
0:02:19 > 0:02:23when they were split up by the conflict in Europe.
0:02:23 > 0:02:24Inside, you feel,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28you know, warm and fuzzy about meeting them cos you're nervous.
0:02:28 > 0:02:29This is the first time.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33For Mum as well, this is... This is a big moment for my mum.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Wendy Stringer was born in Wigan
0:02:39 > 0:02:42as the Battle of Britain was being fought
0:02:42 > 0:02:44in the skies over southern England.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46My parents were married very young.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48My mum was 17. My dad, 19.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53They wanted to get married before he went to war.
0:02:53 > 0:03:00A few months later, I was born, in June 1940.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02Just before she was born,
0:03:02 > 0:03:07Wendy's father, Ronald, was sent to fight in North Africa,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10leaving his daughter and her mum, Marjorie,
0:03:10 > 0:03:11in Wigan to face the war alone.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16It was hard. It was quite difficult for my mother, really.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21But life was about to get even harder.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23My mum got a telegram.
0:03:23 > 0:03:29And in this telegram, it said that my dad was missing, presumed dead.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35I can remember her crying a lot, but I didn't understand.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37I was too young to understand.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Wendy's father was missing in action.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Her mother assumed the worst.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45But wartime life carried on for Wendy and Marjorie,
0:03:45 > 0:03:50just two more innocent victims of a conflict that had engulfed millions,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53until one day, two years later...
0:03:53 > 0:03:58And then another telegram came saying that he had been found
0:03:58 > 0:04:04with malaria and desert sores and loss of memory.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Ronald was alive.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Soon after, he returned home and met his daughter, Wendy,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11for the very first time.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13It wasn't until years later,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16after Wendy had started a family of her own,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19that she learned of her mother's wartime secret.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27My mother said to me that my dad was missing, presumed dead,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30and how upset she was.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35Her two sisters wanted to take her out so that she wouldn't be so
0:04:35 > 0:04:41upset, and she met an old school friend and she went out with him
0:04:41 > 0:04:44for a while. And then she found out she was pregnant.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50But then she found out that my dad was still alive.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55Wendy's grandparents hastily made plans for the unborn baby
0:04:55 > 0:04:56to be adopted.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00My mum told me that we had gone to Cornwall,
0:05:00 > 0:05:05where she had the baby and the adoption papers were signed.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07I can remember her crying
0:05:07 > 0:05:09as she told me.
0:05:09 > 0:05:15I felt awful because I couldn't console her cos I was so...shocked
0:05:15 > 0:05:19at what she was telling me. I couldn't take it in.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23That was in 1960.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27The subject of Wendy's half-brother was not mentioned again until after
0:05:27 > 0:05:30the death of Wendy's father in 1993.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34My mum started to talk about it and she said,
0:05:34 > 0:05:38"I would love to meet my son before I died."
0:05:38 > 0:05:41And I started to feel
0:05:41 > 0:05:44that I should...we should do something.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47All we'd got was the telephone directory, you know,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49and nobody answered the phone,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52or the ones that did, didn't know what we were talking about.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55So we came to a dead end.
0:05:55 > 0:05:56So we put that on one side.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02And sadly, my mum died in 1999.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07It wasn't until 2010 and I thought to myself,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11"I've lived my threescore years and ten, you know,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15"and I would love to see him, see what he's like,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19"what he looks like," so I made it a quest to find him.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24With very little information to go on, Wendy's husband, Graham,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26took up the reins.
0:06:26 > 0:06:27The only information
0:06:27 > 0:06:30I had was his name, his place of birth
0:06:30 > 0:06:33- and possibly a year. - HE LAUGHS
0:06:33 > 0:06:36My mother had found out
0:06:36 > 0:06:42that his parents were called Sheriff and they'd called him John.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46So we went through 192, Yell, everything I could find.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Nothing came up.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53And then my son suggested that I use one of the social media websites,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56and I found every John Sheriff that I could
0:06:56 > 0:06:58that sort of fit within a one-year parameter.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01And I sent every one of them a message.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07We never heard anything. Nobody...
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Not one person answered, so we gave it up as a bad job.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15I thought to myself, "We're never going to find him now."
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Cos nine months had passed and we hadn't heard.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24Then, out of the blue, Wendy and Graham finally got a response.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27I was just checking my e-mails and
0:07:27 > 0:07:31one popped up from a John Sheriff.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34And I thought, "Wow!"
0:07:34 > 0:07:37So I opened it, and it said,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40"I could be the person you're looking for."
0:07:44 > 0:07:49100 miles away, 70-year-old Maureen Cooper had also been trying
0:07:49 > 0:07:54to piece back together a family blown apart by the Second World War.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Maureen grew up in post-war Birmingham with her parents,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Robert and Mary, and her sister, Brenda.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Although the conflict had ended, the upheaval it had caused
0:08:04 > 0:08:07for so many families was about to have a profound effect
0:08:07 > 0:08:09on a young Maureen's life.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13I didn't find out I was adopted until I was 11.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18I'd had a row with my cousin Norma over the fence.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22And she blurted out that I was adopted, just like her.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26And I... "What's she mean?"
0:08:26 > 0:08:31So I went running into Mum and I said, "Am I adopted?"
0:08:31 > 0:08:36She said, "Yes, you're adopted." I was quite upset.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Then they explained it all.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41They couldn't have children at the time.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45They decided they would adopt.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Although Maureen had a happy childhood, as she grew up,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54her thoughts often turned to her birth mother.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57When you get a bit older, you think to yourself,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59"I wonder what she looks like.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01"I wonder what my natural mother looks like.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03"I wonder if I could find her."
0:09:03 > 0:09:07In those days, it wasn't the done thing, you know,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09It was all kept sort of hush-hush.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16But then, in 1965, on the day of her wedding,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Maureen's adoptive father dropped a bombshell.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23My dad was in the bedroom and he said, "Here's your adoption papers.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30"If you want to try and find your natural mum, you can."
0:09:30 > 0:09:32"I don't know where she is." He said, "That's all I can tell you."
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Obviously, I was looking at them.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Something you don't really do on your wedding day! But...
0:09:40 > 0:09:42I was looking down at them and I thought, "Oh, my God."
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Slowly, Maureen began to learn more about her background
0:09:47 > 0:09:49and her birth mother, Dorothy.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53My natural mum, she was married in 1938.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56I was born in '45, so...
0:09:58 > 0:10:02What I was told was that her husband had probably gone off to war.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08It seems Maureen's mother, Dorothy, may have thought her husband
0:10:08 > 0:10:12was killed in action and while he was away, she fell pregnant.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15However, when Maureen was just six months old,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18word reached her mother that her husband was returning.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25All I know is that he was coming home from war and she had to get
0:10:25 > 0:10:29rid of me before he got home, just had to get rid of me.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Put me in a... You know, ready for adoption.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Within a few months, Maureen was found a new home and began a new
0:10:40 > 0:10:45life with her adoptive parents. It wasn't until years later, after they
0:10:45 > 0:10:48had died and Maureen had children of her own, that she started
0:10:48 > 0:10:51to consider finding her birth family.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54We could see what it meant to Mum to
0:10:54 > 0:10:56hopefully find, you know, part of
0:10:56 > 0:10:57her family, and ideally, her mum.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Several years passed, without any results.
0:11:02 > 0:11:08Then in 2011, Maureen was contacted by adoption agency.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10But it wasn't the news she'd been expecting.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13I had this phone call out of the blue.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18She said, "We think we have found a sibling."
0:11:18 > 0:11:21I said, "Really?"
0:11:21 > 0:11:24I couldn't believe it. I was...
0:11:24 > 0:11:28I was in awe! I thought, "You're joking!"
0:11:28 > 0:11:32I said, "We think we've found somebody, you know, of mine!"
0:11:32 > 0:11:37And, I know I got all excited, as you do.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40You think, "God, after 50 years!"
0:11:40 > 0:11:43And I was tickled pink, I really was.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Little did Maureen know that the search for her birth mother
0:11:47 > 0:11:52was about to bring together two families separated by war.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55To meet your family you've never met before,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59it's exciting and scary and a little bit anxious about it
0:11:59 > 0:12:00all in one go.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Hello.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Wendy and her husband, Graham, had been searching online
0:12:13 > 0:12:16and on social media for Wendy's half-brother, John.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21John had been born and then given up for adoption during the war.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25But with no luck, Wendy had given up hope of ever finding her brother,
0:12:25 > 0:12:31until one day, months later, when Graham was checking for messages.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35And one popped up from a John Sheriff.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40And it said, "I could be the person you're looking for."
0:12:40 > 0:12:43And I thought, "Wow!"
0:12:43 > 0:12:46We'd been on holiday, we arrived back and,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48as you do when you get home,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51you have to see if there are any messages, mails.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55There was one there asking if John Sheriff,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58who was born in 1942 or 1943,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00was somebody I knew.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03So I decided I would e-mail them back.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06I gave him my phone number and he telephoned me.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09And we had a quick discussion,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12and then I gave the phone to Wendy,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14which was quite emotional.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16HE CHUCKLES
0:13:16 > 0:13:19I just screamed.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24I thought all my birthdays had come at once.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28And when I heard his voice, I said, "Is that really you?"
0:13:28 > 0:13:31And he said, "Yes, it's me."
0:13:31 > 0:13:35And we just talked for two hours solid.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42John wasted no time in filling Wendy in on his life since being adopted
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and discovered he had spent many years living just half an hour away.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50I grew up in Stockport with my parents.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Happy, very happy. It was a lovely background.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57And I first found out that I was adopted
0:13:57 > 0:14:01when I was about seven or eight years old.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04I always felt that it would be a bit cruel to my parents
0:14:04 > 0:14:09to actually start chasing original family.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11So I decided to leave well alone.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15I thought it would be disrespectful for my family.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20But after his adoptive parents died, John felt able to start
0:14:20 > 0:14:25looking for his birth family. He began with his adoption papers.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27There was no mention of a father,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31but it did provide some other vital information.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34It had my mother's name, Marjorie Hallon,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36and I was born in Redruth.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40I tried to contact the registrar in Redruth.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43And I sent an application for a birth certificate,
0:14:43 > 0:14:48putting all the information that I had from my adoption certificate.
0:14:51 > 0:14:52The registrar spoke to me
0:14:52 > 0:14:58and she said that she couldn't send me a birth certificate because I had
0:14:58 > 0:15:00gotten the name incorrectly.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05When I looked at the adoption certificate, and it looked right to
0:15:05 > 0:15:09me, Hallon, H-A-L-L-O-N, so frustration kicked in
0:15:09 > 0:15:14and she wasn't then able to tell me the correct spelling
0:15:14 > 0:15:17and left me in limbo, to be truthful.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20And there, John's search may have ended
0:15:20 > 0:15:24were it not for the determination of his son.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28On the birth certificate, it was Halton, not Hallon.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32When I looked at the adoption certificate,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35the L, the second L, hadn't been crossed.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40John's son also discovered some other news
0:15:40 > 0:15:42he had to break to his dad.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45He said, "Your mum's died, sadly.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48"She died in 1999."
0:15:48 > 0:15:52Which was...quite upsetting,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55you know, cos I would've liked to have...
0:15:55 > 0:15:58I'd have liked to let her know that...
0:16:03 > 0:16:05- EMOTIONAL:- ..that I'd been happy.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12This simple administrative error had prevented John from making contact
0:16:12 > 0:16:14with his mum before she died.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19He'd done further research and found out that I had two sisters,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23one who was born prior to me and one who was born after.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25He said, "They don't live too far away,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28"should we contact them?"
0:16:28 > 0:16:30And I said, "No."
0:16:30 > 0:16:36Being in between the two sisters and they having the same father and
0:16:36 > 0:16:41me not having a father named made me more aware that there was...
0:16:41 > 0:16:46a danger of upsetting by making an approach.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49John put his search on hold.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53What he didn't know was that one of his sisters, Wendy,
0:16:53 > 0:16:54was looking for him.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59But it was another ten years before they eventually make contact.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03They've been making up for lost time ever since. But Wendy and John's
0:17:03 > 0:17:07happiness at finding each other after all these years is tinged with
0:17:07 > 0:17:09regret on both sides.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12I just feel very selfish...
0:17:13 > 0:17:17..that I didn't look for him while my mum was alive.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21I feel guilty because she'd never saw him.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26And it was her last wish, to see him.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28She never got to see the son...
0:17:31 > 0:17:33..that she must've always loved...
0:17:35 > 0:17:37..but couldn't do anything about.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43But I'm so pleased that we found him.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46He's the most wonderful person.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49- TEARFUL:- He's so much like my mother.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58If I'd pursued things in '98,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01I'd have probably had the chance to actually meet my mother.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06I think what would've been good about that
0:18:06 > 0:18:10would have been to tell her that everything had been good.
0:18:13 > 0:18:14But sadly, that didn't happen.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Today, Wendy and John are meeting up again.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29John will be visiting his mother's grave for the first time.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35The closer we get, the more emotional I feel.
0:18:44 > 0:18:45Here it is.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Marjorie was buried on a family plot,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52alongside husband, Ronald, and her parents.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00SHE SNIFFLES
0:19:04 > 0:19:07HE SIGHS
0:19:09 > 0:19:12- Let's put the flowers in. Can I?- You do it.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Thank you for, well, finding me.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23It's just the most wonderful thing that's happened.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28I...I... I'm just over the moon that, you know, we found you.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32You meet after 70 years or whatever and it's as if
0:19:32 > 0:19:34you've known each other all...
0:19:34 > 0:19:37- all the time.- It is, isn't it? Yeah.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00Maureen Cooper had also been given up for adoption after being
0:20:00 > 0:20:02born out of wedlock during the Second World War.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07She had no luck tracing her birth mother.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10But an adoption agency had discovered she had an older sister.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15The agency put the two families in contact.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18But it wasn't Maureen's sister who called...
0:20:18 > 0:20:22So I rang the phone number and Terry, Maureen's husband, answered.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24And I, of course, had to explain who I was.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28The voice on the end of the phone belonged to Maureen's niece,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Adele, the daughter of her long-lost sister
0:20:31 > 0:20:34who she discovered was called Christine.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37But the news was bittersweet for Maureen.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43My sister had died 12 years before.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49But I did find out off Adele
0:20:49 > 0:20:52that her mum, my sister,
0:20:52 > 0:20:54was looking for me.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57You know, I was glad somebody was looking for me.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03But upset that, you know, my sister died and I'd never get to meet her.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Christine had died in 2000 at the age of 57.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Adele helped Maureen to fill in the missing gaps
0:21:12 > 0:21:13about her sister's life.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18My mother, Christine, was born in Birmingham
0:21:18 > 0:21:21and was Carol Anne Hunt until she was three-and-a-half.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25And then she was adopted by a family called the Parkers,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and they renamed her Christine Parker.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30She met my father at a dance in St Catherine's.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32And he'd been working in Cadbury's.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36And they got married and they had my two brothers in England.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40And then they moved back to Ireland and had my sister and myself.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44For Mum to find out that she had a younger sister
0:21:44 > 0:21:46would be just huge.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49I think that's the saddest part of all of this.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52It's lovely for us to have found Maureen,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56but I think for my mother, it would have been huge. And for Maureen.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58They were so close in age.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02It would have been lovely for them to have found each other, yeah.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07After making contact, Maureen went to Ireland to meet her
0:22:07 > 0:22:10new-found nephews and nieces.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Today they are meeting up again in England.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16It'll be the first time Maureen's sons, Mark and Matt,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18will meet their long lost cousins.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23It's like the culmination of something that's been
0:22:23 > 0:22:25going on for years.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29And to meet your family, your extended family that you've never
0:22:29 > 0:22:34met before, I can't quite imagine how the moment is going to be.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38And it's exciting and scary and, you know,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41a little bit anxious about it all in one go.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43They know I've got two boys and,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45obviously, they would like to meet both of you.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47- So today's the day.- Yeah.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51- Yeah, well exciting.- Yeah.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Can't wait. Can't wait.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Inside, you feel, you know, warm and fuzzy about meeting them.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Because you're nervous cos, you know, this is the first time.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05And for Mum as well. This is a big moment for my mum.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Waiting to meet them are all of Christine's children -
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Philip, Patrick, Donna and Adele.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21- Hi!- All right.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24THEY LAUGH
0:23:25 > 0:23:30- Hello.- Hello.- Oh, great. - Isn't it just?- Yeah.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32- Tired?- Oh, hi, Philip. - Hi. How are you?
0:23:32 > 0:23:34- Mark is it?- Matt.- Matt, sorry.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36- That's Matt. Sorry. - How are you?- Good, good.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Christine's children have brought with them
0:23:39 > 0:23:43some family archive that Maureen has never seen before.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46OK, these are some pictures that we brought. That's Mum
0:23:46 > 0:23:51when she was about six, I'd imagine. I can see the resemblance there.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55- Yeah. It's the same. Uncanny.- That's her wedding dress.- And that one.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57- It's quite like yours, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00- You can see the resemblance, then? - Oh, yeah. Definitely.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Through his mother's passion for writing and painting,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Philip can also reveal that her unknown birth family were
0:24:08 > 0:24:10never far from Christine's thoughts.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13And then we brought these as well.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17- These... She used to write short stories.- Oh, right.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20But she used a pen name - Hunt.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22- Really?- That's interesting.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Yeah. She used to sign them Christine Hunt.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27Oh.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31And then I have a photograph of a painting.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36But she used to use a pen name for painting, which was Carol Anne Hunt.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Which was her birth name.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41- Yeah, that's right, cos that's on the birth certificate.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43That's a little biography that she wrote,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47and there's the actual document with her handwriting on it.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50And her signature, Christine Hunt.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52- Her handwriting is similar to yours as well.- I know!
0:24:52 > 0:24:53- Really?- Yeah, absolutely.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56- It's so uncanny, this is. - It's so uncanny, yeah.
0:24:56 > 0:24:57It really is.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Goes to show how much your genes have an influence on your life,
0:25:00 > 0:25:02- doesn't it?- Crazy.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06And Maureen has some memories of her own to share.
0:25:06 > 0:25:12These are of me when I was... I think I was about three on that one.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15You were born Hunt.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17- Yeah.- What name had you here?
0:25:17 > 0:25:20- Truman.- Truman, OK.- Yeah. - They're lovely.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22You couldn't make it more complicated, could you?
0:25:22 > 0:25:23No, you couldn't.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26This is the wedding one.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Terry was 21 and I was 19.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Same age as Mum when she got married.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35- Yeah, the same. - What church is that?- St John's.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37- In Birmingham?- Yep.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41- And it snowed.- It snowed. The night before we got married.
0:25:41 > 0:25:42The same with Mum's wedding.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45- It snowed.- Did it?- Yeah.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Both got married at the same age, both did nursing,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50both have amazing looking children.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52- THEY LAUGH ALL:- Yeah!
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Maureen's family is just one of millions that were left
0:25:56 > 0:26:00devastated and divided by the Second World War.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03The consequences of this conflict mean Maureen will now never
0:26:03 > 0:26:06get to meet her birth mother or sister. But from today,
0:26:06 > 0:26:11at least the next generation of their family is reunited.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14- ALL:- Whoo!- Hey! - THEY LAUGH
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Today has been...fantastic!
0:26:19 > 0:26:21I'm really pleased.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26And now that I've been able to catch up and little bits of snippets
0:26:26 > 0:26:30come out, you know. But, yeah, it's been great.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33They are relatives. I mean, all of them.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35You know? And it's...
0:26:37 > 0:26:40..brilliant. I am so pleased.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45A toast to Carol Anne Hunt.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47- Yes.- Carol Anne Hunt.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51- ALL:- Cheers.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56- It's been fab. Really, really very special.- They've been brilliant.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58It's a long time that my mum's been looking.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01You kind of thought it was never ever going to happen.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03And now it's happened.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Mum's not a particularly emotional person, and now, today, stood
0:27:06 > 0:27:09right next to her, you could feel how pleased and excited she was.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It sort of completes everything for her.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14- Really, really nice feeling.- Yeah.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16They're a great bunch of people as well.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19- PHILIP:- Mum would be very proud that we found them.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24And I'm so happy for Auntie Maureen that she's found closure.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28She is a wonderful woman and I'm just very happy for her.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32It's almost like the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle for all of us.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35It's lovely to know now the that we will keep in contact,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37and with the next generation coming through.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41And seeing us all together in the one room, it really is a family.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45From Mum's history, we have another side to our story,
0:27:45 > 0:27:46another chapter.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48That's all I need to mention.
0:27:48 > 0:27:5050 years...
0:27:50 > 0:27:55Yeah, it's been a long time coming. But it has paid off.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59It's nice when you find what you're looking for.