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 a war alone.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13I didn't know what it was all about.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15I just heard these bangs.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18It was quite scary.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Cos the bangs used to shake the house.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24I can remember my mother running down the road with me
0:03:24 > 0:03:28to an air raid shelter and cuddling me.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30And I can remember snuggling up under her chin,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and she always smelled nice.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36It was hard. It was quite difficult for my mother, really.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42But life was about to get even harder.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44My mum got a telegram.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49And in this telegram, it said that my dad was missing, presumed dead.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54His battalion had gone away, and they were all killed.
0:03:56 > 0:04:02I can remember her crying a lot, but I didn't understand.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04I was too young to understand.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Wendy's father was missing in action.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Her mother assumed the worst.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12But wartime life carried on for Wendy and Marjorie,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17just two more innocent victims of a conflict that had engulfed millions,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20until one day, two years later...
0:04:20 > 0:04:24And then another telegram came saying that he had been found
0:04:24 > 0:04:30with malaria and desert sores and loss of memory.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Ronald was alive.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Soon after, he returned home and met his daughter, Wendy,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38for the very first time.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41He rushed over and got me up in his arms and hugged me
0:04:41 > 0:04:43till I couldn't breathe.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45And then he got hold of my mother
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and was hugging and hugging for ages.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54After the hostilities ended, family life began to return to normal.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Wendy's sister, Gillian, was born in 1945,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00and they had a happy childhood.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01It wasn't until years later,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05after Wendy had started a family of her own,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08that she learned of her mother's wartime secret.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11I had my first baby in 1960.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14And it was getting towards Christmas -
0:05:14 > 0:05:17my mother was always very upset around Christmas time
0:05:17 > 0:05:20and we didn't...we never knew why
0:05:20 > 0:05:24until she told me that she'd had a baby
0:05:24 > 0:05:27during the war. And she called him Michael.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34My mother said to me that my dad was missing, presumed dead,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37and how upset she was.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42Her two sisters wanted to take her out so that she wouldn't be so
0:05:42 > 0:05:48upset, and she met an old school friend and she went out with him
0:05:48 > 0:05:53for a while. And then she found out she was pregnant.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58But then she found out that my dad was still alive.
0:06:01 > 0:06:02During the Second World War,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06over 40,000 members of the British Armed Forces
0:06:06 > 0:06:09were declared missing in action.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11And in the fog of war,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14it was near impossible to keep accurate records of soldiers
0:06:14 > 0:06:18thought missing or killed. When hostilities ended,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21there were still almost 6,000 British troops unaccounted for.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Back at home, it left many families in turmoil.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29When we look at the make up of families in Britain
0:06:29 > 0:06:30in the 20th century,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I think the First World War, the Second World War
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and National Service
0:06:35 > 0:06:37are the three biggest single influences
0:06:37 > 0:06:40on how families developed, broke up,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42were put together over that time.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44There seems to be some kind of a social shift,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47that there were lots of children born out of wedlock.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49There was a feeling of having to live for the moment
0:06:49 > 0:06:52because nobody knew what was going to happen tomorrow.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58The war had a huge impact on Wendy's family.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00When her mother, Marjorie,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03found out that the husband she assumed had been killed
0:07:03 > 0:07:04was coming home,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07she had been seven months pregnant with another man's child.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Wendy's grandparents hastily made plans for the unborn baby
0:07:11 > 0:07:13to be adopted.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16My mum told me that we had gone to Cornwall,
0:07:16 > 0:07:21where she had the baby and the adoption papers were signed.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24It all fell into place then, you know,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26what I could remember as a child,
0:07:26 > 0:07:30going on holiday with my gran and my mother.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35I think my mother told me about the adoption.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39You know, we'd seen my baby
0:07:39 > 0:07:42and maybe she looked very much like him
0:07:42 > 0:07:44and it brought all these memories
0:07:44 > 0:07:48back which she had tried to put at the back of her mind.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51I can remember her crying
0:07:51 > 0:07:52as she told me.
0:07:52 > 0:07:59I felt awful because I couldn't console her cos I was so...shocked
0:07:59 > 0:08:02at what she was telling me. I couldn't take it in.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06That was in 1960.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10The subject of Wendy's half-brother was not mentioned again until after
0:08:10 > 0:08:13the death of Wendy's father in 1993.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17My mum started to talk about it and she said,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21"I would love to meet my son before I died."
0:08:21 > 0:08:24And I started to feel
0:08:24 > 0:08:27that I should...we should do something.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30All we'd got was the telephone directory, you know,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32and nobody answered the phone,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35or the ones that did, didn't know what we were talking about.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38So we came to a dead end.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40So we put that on one side.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45And sadly, my mum died in 1999.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50It wasn't until 2010 and I thought to myself,
0:08:50 > 0:08:55"I've lived my threescore years and ten, you know,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58"and I would love to see him, see what he's like,
0:08:58 > 0:09:03"what he looks like," so I made it a quest to find him.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07With very little information to go on, Wendy's husband, Graham,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09took up the reins.
0:09:09 > 0:09:10The only information
0:09:10 > 0:09:14I had was his name, his place of birth
0:09:14 > 0:09:16- and possibly a year. - HE LAUGHS
0:09:16 > 0:09:19My mother had found out
0:09:19 > 0:09:25that his parents were called Sheriff and they'd called him John.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30So we went through 192, Yell, everything I could find.
0:09:30 > 0:09:31Nothing came up.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36And then my son suggested that I use one of the social media websites,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39and I found every John Sheriff that I could
0:09:39 > 0:09:42that sort of fit within a one-year parameter.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44And I sent every one of them a message.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46I sent it as Wendy would send it,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49so I put, "I'm looking for a brother
0:09:49 > 0:09:53"born 1942, 1943, December,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56"born in Cornwall and his mother's name was Marjorie."
0:09:56 > 0:09:58And I just left it at that.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04We never heard anything. Nobody...
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Not one person answered, so we gave it up as a bad job.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12I thought to myself, "We're never going to find him now."
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Cos nine months had passed and we hadn't heard.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Then, out of the blue, Wendy and Graham finally got a response.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24I was just checking my e-mails and
0:10:24 > 0:10:28one popped up from a John Sheriff.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31And I thought, "Wow!"
0:10:31 > 0:10:34So I opened it, and it said,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37"I could be the person you're looking for."
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Finally, after years of looking,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Wendy seemed one step closer to solving her family puzzle.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46It's a little bit like a jigsaw,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49where we're putting the pieces together slowly.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59100 miles away, 70-year-old Maureen Cooper had also been trying
0:10:59 > 0:11:04to piece back together a family blown apart by the Second World War.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Maureen grew up in post-war Birmingham with her parents,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Robert and Mary, and her sister, Brenda.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Although the conflict had ended, the upheaval it had caused
0:11:14 > 0:11:17for so many families was about to have a profound effect
0:11:17 > 0:11:18on a young Maureen's life.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23I didn't find out I was adopted until I was 11.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28I'd had a row with my cousin Norma over the fence.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32And she blurted out that I was adopted, just like her.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And I... "What's she mean?"
0:11:35 > 0:11:41So I went running into Mum and I said, "Am I adopted?"
0:11:41 > 0:11:45She said, "Yes, you're adopted." I was quite upset.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48I can remember going up to the bedroom
0:11:48 > 0:11:49and having a good blowout,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52as you do when you find out these things.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58I kept saying, "Why me? You know. "Why me?"
0:11:58 > 0:12:00And then they explained it all,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04that they couldn't have children at the time
0:12:04 > 0:12:08and they decided they would adopt.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13They said that I was a special one because, you know, they went
0:12:13 > 0:12:17and looked at lots of little babies and they chose me.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22Although Maureen had a happy childhood, as she grew up,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25her thoughts often turned to her birth mother.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28When you get a bit older, you think to yourself,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30"I wonder what she looks like.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32"I wonder what my natural mother looks like.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34"I wonder if I could find her."
0:12:34 > 0:12:38In those days, it wasn't the done thing, you know,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40It was all kept sort of hush-hush.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47But then, in 1965, on the day of her wedding,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Maureen's adoptive father dropped a bombshell.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54My dad was in the bedroom and he said, "Here's your adoption papers.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00"If you want to try and find your natural mum, you can."
0:13:00 > 0:13:04"I don't know where she is." He said, "That's all I can tell you."
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Obviously, I was looking at them.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Something you don't really do on your wedding day! But...
0:13:10 > 0:13:13I was looking down at them and I thought, "Oh, my God."
0:13:13 > 0:13:18Slowly, Maureen began to learn more about her background
0:13:18 > 0:13:20and her birth mother, Dorothy.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24My natural mum, she was married in 1938.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27I was born in '45, so...
0:13:28 > 0:13:34What I was told was that her husband had probably gone off to war.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39While her husband was away fighting, and with no idea that if he was
0:13:39 > 0:13:42ever coming back, Dorothy fell pregnant with Maureen.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46On her birth certificate, no father is named.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Of course, you get all the Americans
0:13:49 > 0:13:53and everybody else coming over. I don't know my dad.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56I don't know whether he's American or what he is. I have no idea.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59I mean, it'd be nice to find him,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01but I wouldn't even know where to start.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03In the confusion of war,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07it's possible that Dorothy thought her husband was killed in action
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and had started another relationship,
0:14:09 > 0:14:11as many war widows did.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14However, when Maureen was just six months old,
0:14:14 > 0:14:19it seemed word reached her mother that her husband was returning.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25All I know is that he was coming home from war and she had to get
0:14:25 > 0:14:29rid of me before he got home, just had to get rid of me.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Put me in a... You know, ready for adoption.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Within a few months, Maureen was found a new home and began a new
0:14:39 > 0:14:44life with her adoptive parents. It wasn't until years later, after they
0:14:44 > 0:14:48had died and Maureen had children of her own, that she started
0:14:48 > 0:14:51to consider finding her birth family.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Well, we sort of got an idea
0:14:53 > 0:14:57that she was adopted.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02And we always knew that there was this little bit of the
0:15:02 > 0:15:05jigsaw that she didn't have.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08We could see what it meant to Mum to
0:15:08 > 0:15:09hopefully find, you know, part of
0:15:09 > 0:15:11her family, and ideally, her mum.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16She knew bits of who she was, where she was from,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18but she didn't know this other side.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And that's the other side that she really wanted to complete.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27Now Maureen began her search for her birth mother in earnest.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29I started to write.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35I think it was a council we wrote to in Birmingham.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39And they wrote back saying, "Oh, try the courts."
0:15:39 > 0:15:44Which again, I wrote to the courts.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And they said, "Put a letter in,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51"in case we do find her and we can send it to her."
0:15:51 > 0:15:54So I did a quick letter. "Hello, I'm your daughter,"
0:15:54 > 0:15:56and that sort of thing.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00And I had a letter back from the court saying, "Sorry...
0:16:03 > 0:16:05"Can't find anybody of that name."
0:16:05 > 0:16:07And I thought, "Right."
0:16:07 > 0:16:10So there we got a blank.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14You think you're doing the right thing.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17And you think, "Is it worth it?"
0:16:17 > 0:16:20"No, I can't be bothered any more."
0:16:20 > 0:16:24As the years passed, one dead end followed another.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29Then in 2011, Maureen was contacted by adoption agency.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31But it wasn't the news she'd been expecting.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35I had this phone call out of the blue.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40And she said, "Are you Maureen Cooper?" I said, "Yeah."
0:16:40 > 0:16:44She said, "We think we have found a sibling."
0:16:44 > 0:16:46I said, "Really?"
0:16:47 > 0:16:50I couldn't believe it. I was...
0:16:50 > 0:16:54I was in awe! I thought, "You're joking!"
0:16:54 > 0:16:58I said, "We think we've found somebody, you know, of mine!"
0:16:58 > 0:17:03And, I know I got all excited, as you do.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06You think, "God, after 50 years!"
0:17:06 > 0:17:09And I was tickled pink, I really was.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11They hadn't found Maureen's birth mother,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14but they'd had discovered that she had an older sister.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Before Maureen was born, it seems her mother, Dorothy,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20had another child while her husband was away at war.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Both children has been put up for adoption.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26I had a phone call from my mother.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29She says, "We found them, we've got them!"
0:17:29 > 0:17:33I said, "Who, who?" And then she explained who she'd found.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37It was like, "Wow!" So, yeah, it was great news.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40You could hear from the way she was speaking to us that she was really
0:17:40 > 0:17:43delighted and happy that finally there was a breakthrough,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and it was going to open a lot of doors in knowing what's,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50you know, her heritage and where she's come from.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55Little did know Maureen know that the search for her birth mother
0:17:55 > 0:17:59was about to bring together two families separated by war.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03To meet your family you've never met before,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06it's exciting and scary and a little bit anxious about it
0:18:06 > 0:18:08all in one go.
0:18:08 > 0:18:09Hello.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Wendy and her husband, Graham, had been searching online
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and on social media for Wendy's half-brother, John.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28John had been born and then given up for adoption during the war.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33But with no luck, Wendy had given up hope of ever finding her brother,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38until one day, months later, when Graham was checking for messages.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43And one popped up from a John Sheriff.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47And it said, "I could be the person you're looking for."
0:18:47 > 0:18:49And I thought, "Wow!"
0:18:50 > 0:18:53We'd been on holiday, we arrived back and,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55as you do when you get home,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58you have to see if there are any messages, mails.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02There was one there asking if John Sheriff,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06who was born in 1942 or 1943,
0:19:06 > 0:19:07was somebody I knew.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11So I decided I would e-mail them back
0:19:11 > 0:19:15to confirm that I was the John Sheriff they were looking for.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18And he knew his mother's name was Marjorie,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22he knew when he was born, he also knew he had two sisters.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24I gave him my phone number and he telephoned me.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28And we had a quick discussion,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and then I gave the phone to Wendy,
0:19:31 > 0:19:32which was quite emotional.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35HE CHUCKLES
0:19:35 > 0:19:38My husband burst through the door, he said,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40"We found him, we found him!"
0:19:40 > 0:19:41I said, "Found who?"
0:19:41 > 0:19:45"John Sheriff! John Sheriff's on the phone."
0:19:45 > 0:19:48He said, "It's your brother." And I just screamed.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54I thought all my birthdays had come at once.
0:19:54 > 0:19:59And when I heard his voice, I said, "Is that really you?"
0:19:59 > 0:20:01And he said, "Yes, it's me."
0:20:01 > 0:20:06And we just talked for two hours solid.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09It was exciting, but it just felt quite normal.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13And we made arrangements to meet a week later.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19John wasted no time in filling Wendy in on his life since being adopted
0:20:19 > 0:20:24and discovered he had spent many years living just half an hour away.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29I grew up in Stockport with my parents.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Happy, very happy. It was a lovely background.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36And I first found out that I was adopted
0:20:36 > 0:20:39when I was about seven or eight years old.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41My mother told me.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45I remember that she was very upset at the time about this.
0:20:45 > 0:20:46It didn't upset me,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49in that I thought it was lovely that I had been picked.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54In a lot of respects, that was the only time it was ever mentioned.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56I don't ever discussed it with my father.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59I just got on and had a lovely life.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01They cared for me greatly.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04It's a strange thing to have this mystery.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Knowing I was adopted, I mean, it was there in the background.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12I always felt that it would be a bit cruel to my parents
0:21:12 > 0:21:16to actually start chasing original family.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19So I decided to leave well alone.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22I thought it would be disrespectful for my family.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28But after his adoptive parents died, John felt able to start
0:21:28 > 0:21:33looking for his birth family. He began with his adoption papers.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35There was no mention of a father,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38but it did provide some other vital information.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42It had my mother's name, Marjorie Hallon,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44and I was born in Redruth.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47I thought my mother must have been Irish, being Hallon.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52And I thought with it being the war, my father was probably an American.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57I tried to contact the registrar in Redruth.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59And I sent an application for a birth certificate,
0:21:59 > 0:22:05putting all the information that I had from my adoption certificate
0:22:05 > 0:22:06and waited for the response.
0:22:08 > 0:22:09The registrar spoke to me
0:22:09 > 0:22:14and she said that she couldn't send me a birth certificate because I had
0:22:14 > 0:22:17gotten the name incorrectly.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22When I looked at the adoption certificate, and it looked right to
0:22:22 > 0:22:26me, Hallon, H-A-L-L-O-N, so frustration kicked in
0:22:26 > 0:22:31and she wasn't then able to tell me the correct spelling
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and left me in limbo, to be truthful.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39I think it was an enquiry I was tentative about making anyway,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43and then to have it thwarted by that, it was just,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47"Blow it, I'm 60 years on, I don't really need to push this at all."
0:22:47 > 0:22:51And there, John's search may have ended
0:22:51 > 0:22:54were it not for the determination of his son.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Well, he was more successful than I.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00About 2006, he had obtained a birth certificate.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04On the birth certificate, it was Halton, not Hallon.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07When I looked at the adoption certificate,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10the L, the second L, hadn't been crossed.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15John's son also discovered some other news
0:23:15 > 0:23:17he had to break to his dad.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20He said, "Your mum's died, sadly.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23"She died in 1999."
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Which was...quite upsetting,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29you know, cos I would've liked to have...
0:23:29 > 0:23:33I'd have liked to let her know that...
0:23:38 > 0:23:40- EMOTIONAL:- ..that I'd been happy.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47This simple administrative error had prevented John from making contact
0:23:47 > 0:23:49with his mum before she died.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54He'd done further research and found out that I had two sisters,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58one who was born prior to me and one who was born after.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01He said, "They don't live too far away,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03"should we contact them?"
0:24:03 > 0:24:05And I said, "No."
0:24:05 > 0:24:11Being in between the two sisters and they having the same father and
0:24:11 > 0:24:17me not having a father named made me more aware that there was...
0:24:17 > 0:24:21a danger of upsetting by making an approach.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24John put his search on hold.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28What he didn't know was that one of his sisters, Wendy,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30was looking for him.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34But it was another ten years before they eventually make contact.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38And after a phone call, a few days later,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40they met for the very first time.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42We just hung onto one another.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46We couldn't speak for about five minutes.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49It was as if we'd...we'd known each other all that time, really.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Which sounds stupid.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55But it just feels quite natural.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58They've been so nice and kind to me.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01It seemed to bring the circle together.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03It just rounded everything off.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08And finding out about the circumstances surrounding
0:25:08 > 0:25:13my adoption, I don't feel that there should be any shame or anybody
0:25:13 > 0:25:16should be ashamed of anything, because they were just circumstances
0:25:16 > 0:25:18of the war.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22One or two people may have been hurt at the time. When I look at it,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25for me, I wasn't hurt. I was quite happy.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27It was exciting. It was wonderful.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30As I say, I was telling everybody, anybody who would listen.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38They've been making up for lost time ever since. But Wendy and John's
0:25:38 > 0:25:42happiness at finding each other after all these years is tinged with
0:25:42 > 0:25:44regret on both sides.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47I just feel very selfish...
0:25:48 > 0:25:51..that I didn't look for him while my mum was alive.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56I feel guilty because she'd never saw him.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01And it was her last wish, to see him.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02She never got to see the son...
0:26:06 > 0:26:08..that she must've always loved...
0:26:10 > 0:26:12..but couldn't do anything about.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18But I'm still pleased that we found him.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21He's the most wonderful person.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24- TEARFUL:- He's so much like my mother.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32If I'd pursued things in '98,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36I'd have probably had the chance to actually meet my mother.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41I think what would've been good about that
0:26:41 > 0:26:45would have been to tell her that everything had been good.
0:26:48 > 0:26:49But sadly, that didn't happen.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Today, Wendy and John are meeting up again.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04John will be visiting his mother's grave for the first time.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08It's a journey that has taken a long, long time.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11It's a little bit like a jigsaw,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15where we're putting the pieces together slowly.
0:27:15 > 0:27:16Hiya, sweets.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22- How are you?- I've missed you. - THEY GIGGLE
0:27:22 > 0:27:23- Are you all right?- Yes.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26- How are you doing?- I don't do well.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28It feels like I expected.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Before they head to the churchyard,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35Wendy wants to show her brother some old family photos.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38- Our mum was...- Ah, did Mum...?
0:27:38 > 0:27:42She put all these together. This is when dad came home
0:27:42 > 0:27:46- from the war.- Yeah. - There is my mum and me.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49- She's lovely, isn't she? Gorgeous.- Yes.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52But this is me at school, one my school photographs.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54Nice photograph, isn't it?
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Yes. I look very much like my mother there.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Very much. There's my mum.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01- There? With Gran?- Yes.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06- There's two photographs here of my mum in later life.- Our mum.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09Our mum. I keep forgetting, yeah.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12She's got the smile.
0:28:12 > 0:28:18- Do you remember when it was?- It was about two years before she died.- Oh.
0:28:18 > 0:28:19That's sad.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22It was just about the time, probably about the time
0:28:22 > 0:28:26- when I was finding out about her. - Yes. Yeah. Probably, yeah.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29- This was the adoption certificate. - Oh, right.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33- And this was on January 1944.- Oh.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37- So just about two or three weeks after I was born.- Yes, yes.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40So they must have just got me settled down, you know,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42and then up to Stockport.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45- She only saw you for two weeks. - Did she?- That's all. Two weeks.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48Well, that would have been it, wouldn't it?
0:28:48 > 0:28:51She didn't have a picture of you or anything,
0:28:51 > 0:28:52so all she got was her memory.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54That's awful.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56- Really awful.- She said you were the most beautiful baby.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00- There, that was... - Oh, my goodness.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02John at six months old.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04- So I was happy enough there at one time.- Yes.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06It's a pity Mum didn't know...
0:29:06 > 0:29:09- Oh.- ..that I was looked after.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12- It's been so lovely to see you. - Thank you.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Wendy and John's mother, Marjorie,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20was buried at St Mary's Church in Tarleton.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24Wendy makes regular visits to pay her respects.
0:29:24 > 0:29:25John has never been here before.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31The closer we get, the more emotional I feel.
0:29:40 > 0:29:41Here it is.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45Marjorie was buried on a family plot,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48alongside husband, Ronald, and her parents.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56SHE SNIFFLES
0:30:00 > 0:30:03HE SIGHS
0:30:05 > 0:30:08- Let's put the flowers in. Can I?- You do it.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16I think the closer we got to the grave,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19the greater the emotion became, to be truthful.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28I just want to say thank you for bringing me over here.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31- It must've been difficult...- Nice to have come together, isn't it?
0:30:31 > 0:30:33..being here. Yeah, nice to be here with you.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38So thank you. As I say, thank you for, well, finding me.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42It's just the most wonderful thing that's happened.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47I...I... I'm just over the moon that, you know, we found you.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51You meet after 70 years or whatever and it's as if
0:30:51 > 0:30:53you've known each other all...
0:30:53 > 0:30:56- all the time.- It is, isn't it? Yeah.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19Maureen Cooper had also been given up for adoption after being
0:31:19 > 0:31:21born out of wedlock during the Second World War.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26She had no luck tracing her birth mother.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30But an adoption agency had discovered she had an older sister.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34The agency put the two families in contact.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37But it wasn't Maureen's sister who called...
0:31:37 > 0:31:41So I rang the phone number and Terry, Maureen's husband, answered.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44And I, of course, had to explain who I was.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48The voice on the end of the phone belonged to Maureen's niece,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Adele, the daughter of her long-lost sister
0:31:50 > 0:31:53who she discovered was called Christine.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56But the news was bittersweet for Maureen.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02My sister had died 12 years before.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08But I did find out off Adele
0:32:08 > 0:32:11that her mum, my sister,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13was looking for me.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16You know, I was glad somebody was looking for me.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22But upset that, you know, my sister died and I'd never get to meet her.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28Christine had died in 2000 at the age of 57.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Adele helped Maureen to fill in the missing gaps
0:32:31 > 0:32:32about her sister's life.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37My mother, Christine, was born in Birmingham
0:32:37 > 0:32:40and was Carol Anne Hunt until she was three-and-a-half.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44And then she was adopted by a family called the Parkers,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47and they renamed her Christine Parker.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51She was always told that she was adopted.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54She was very fortunate. The family she was adopted into, they were very
0:32:54 > 0:32:57affluent, there were able to afford to give her a very good life,
0:32:57 > 0:32:58post-war years.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03But she always felt that something was missing.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07The two sisters had very different upbringings,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10although they unknowingly lived just a few miles apart
0:33:10 > 0:33:13in the Midlands for many years.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16My mum was nursing at the time in Birmingham.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19She met my father at a dance in St Catherine's.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21And he'd been working in Cadbury's.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25And they got married and they had my two brothers in England.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29And then they moved back to Ireland and had my sister and myself.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35She spoke a lot about wanting to belong and have her own family.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39That continued, really, into our lives as we grew up. She always
0:33:39 > 0:33:43felt that she never belonged. That was always the issue that she had.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45My father would have a very big family on his side,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48and, you know, they would always be very open and accepting.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50She was very fortunate to have them.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53But she always said that they weren't her family.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57You know, she wanted her own, someone to call her own.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00But despite decades of searching,
0:34:00 > 0:34:04Christine died before any family connections were made.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08For Mum to find out that she had a younger sister
0:34:08 > 0:34:10would be just huge.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13I think that's the saddest part of all of this.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16It's lovely for us to have found Maureen,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20but I think for my mother, it would have been huge. And for Maureen.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22They were so close in age.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26It would have been lovely for them to have found each other, yeah.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Since the families were brought together,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Adele and Maureen have been in regular contact.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Adele's brother Philip
0:34:32 > 0:34:35has been piecing together the family history.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39I've done the family tree and I can track back my father's family
0:34:39 > 0:34:41for generations.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46And with Mum's family, we couldn't get past the Parkers.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50So we had no idea who her family was.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52And also, when the grandchildren came along,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54she was very proud of them.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59And, you know, she would've loved to have been able to show them off
0:34:59 > 0:35:03to her family, you know, and relatives,
0:35:03 > 0:35:05but she had nobody to show them to.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09On both sides of the Irish Sea,
0:35:09 > 0:35:11the sisters were searching for each other.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15But with little information to go on and limited resources,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17they were fighting a losing battle.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19We take so much for granted nowadays
0:35:19 > 0:35:21because of the technology, the internet.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23We can instantly get answers.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25She did everything by pen.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27She had no reference books.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30So she might write a letter to somebody trying to
0:35:30 > 0:35:35track down her family. She mightn't hear back for six or seven months.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39Sometimes they were never answered. But she couldn't pick up the phone.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42We didn't have a phone. She couldn't go on the internet and search.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47If she was alive today and she had the access today that we have,
0:35:47 > 0:35:48she would've found Maureen.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51She would have, yeah. I do believe that, yeah.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55After making contact with her older sister's family, Maureen made
0:35:55 > 0:35:59the trip to Ireland to meet her newly discovered nephews and nieces.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04The fact that we've now found Maureen,
0:36:04 > 0:36:09it actually puts a lot more pressure on us trying to express the
0:36:09 > 0:36:12desire that Mum had and the passion that she had to find her family.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17And the fact that she got so close and yet never achieved it,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21and now we've managed to put all the pieces of the jigsaw together
0:36:21 > 0:36:24and meet people in the flesh,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28she would have been ecstatic. She would have been delighted,
0:36:28 > 0:36:29over the moon.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34Now, three years after they first made contact,
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Maureen is reuniting with her sister's family again,
0:36:38 > 0:36:42this time in England, where Maureen lives in Bristol.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45And today marks another very special occasion.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48It'll be the first time Maureen's sons, Mark and Matt,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51will meet their new-found family.
0:36:51 > 0:36:52Are you looking forward...
0:36:52 > 0:36:55- Yeah, it's not far. - ..to meeting your new cousins?
0:36:55 > 0:36:58- Yeah. It's going to be exciting. - How about you, Matt?
0:36:58 > 0:37:00- Are you looking forward to it? - Yeah, it's going to be good.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02- Yeah.- It'll be good.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04It's like the culmination of something that's been
0:37:04 > 0:37:06going on for years.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10And to meet your family, your extended family that you've never
0:37:10 > 0:37:15met before, I can't quite imagine how the moment is going to be.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18And it's exciting and scary and, you know,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21a little bit anxious about it all in one go.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23They know I've got two boys and,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26obviously, they would like to meet both of you.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28- So today's the day.- Yeah.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32- Yeah, well exciting.- Yeah.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34Can't wait. Can't wait.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38Inside, you feel, you know, warm and fuzzy about meeting them.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42Because you're nervous cos, you know, this is the first time.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46And for Mum as well. This is a big moment for my mum.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54I suppose when we meet today,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57- Mum will be with us. - Oh, she will, yeah.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00She will experience it in her own spiritual way
0:38:00 > 0:38:02that she's found her family.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Waiting to meet them are all of Christine's children -
0:38:07 > 0:38:10Philip, Patrick, Donna and Adele.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14- Hi!- All right.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16THEY LAUGH
0:38:17 > 0:38:22- Hello.- Hello.- Oh, great. - Isn't it just?- Yeah.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24- Tired?- Oh, hi, Philip. - Hi. How are you?
0:38:24 > 0:38:26- Mark is it?- Matt.- Matt, sorry.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29- That's Matt. Sorry. - How are you?- Good, good.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31Christine's children have brought with them
0:38:31 > 0:38:35some family archive that Maureen has never seen before.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39OK, these are some pictures that we brought. That's Mum
0:38:39 > 0:38:43when she was about six, I'd imagine. I can see the resemblance there.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47- Yeah. It's the same. Uncanny.- That's her wedding dress.- And that one.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49- It's quite like yours, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52- You can see the resemblance, then? - Oh, yeah. Definitely.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Through his mother's passion for writing and painting,
0:38:57 > 0:39:00Philip can also reveal that her unknown birth family were
0:39:00 > 0:39:02never far from Christine's thoughts.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06And then we brought these as well.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09- These... She used to write sort short stories.- Oh, right.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12But she used a pen name - Hunt.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14- Really?- That's interesting.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Yeah. She used to sign them Christine Hunt.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19Oh.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23And then I have a photograph of a painting.
0:39:23 > 0:39:28But she used to use a pen name for painting, which was Carol Anne Hunt.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30Which was her birth name.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33- Yeah, that's right, cos that's on the birth certificate.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35That's a little biography that she wrote,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39and there's the actual document with her handwriting on it.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42And her signature, Christine Hunt.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44- Her handwriting is similar to yours as well.- I know!
0:39:44 > 0:39:46- Really?- Yeah, absolutely.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48- It's so uncanny, this is. - It's so uncanny, yeah.
0:39:48 > 0:39:49It really is.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Goes to show how much your genes have an influence on your life,
0:39:52 > 0:39:54- doesn't it?- Crazy.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58And Maureen has some memories of her own to share.
0:39:58 > 0:40:04These are of me when I was... I think I was about three on that one.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07You were born Hunt.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09- Yeah.- What name had you here?
0:40:09 > 0:40:12- Truman.- Truman, OK.- Yeah. - They're lovely.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14You couldn't make it more complicated, could you?
0:40:14 > 0:40:16No, you couldn't.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18This is the wedding one.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22Terry was 21 and I was 19.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Same age as Mum when she got married.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27- Yeah, the same. - What church is that?- St John's.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29- In Birmingham?- Yep.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33- And it snowed.- It snowed. The night before we got married.
0:40:33 > 0:40:34The same with Mum's wedding.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38- It snowed.- Did it?- Yeah.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Both got married at the same age, both did nursing,
0:40:40 > 0:40:42both have amazing looking children.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44- THEY LAUGH ALL:- Yeah!
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Maureen's family is just one of millions that were left
0:40:49 > 0:40:52devastated and divided by the Second World War.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56The consequences of this conflict mean Maureen will now never
0:40:56 > 0:40:59get to meet her birth mother or sister. But from today,
0:40:59 > 0:41:03at least the next generation of their family is reunited.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06- ALL:- Whoo!- Hey! - THEY LAUGH
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Today has been...fantastic!
0:41:11 > 0:41:14I'm really pleased.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19And now that I've been able to catch up and little bits of snippets
0:41:19 > 0:41:22come out, you know. But, yeah, it's been great.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26They are relatives. I mean, all of them.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28You know? And it's...
0:41:29 > 0:41:33..brilliant. I am so pleased.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37A toast to Carol Anne Hunt.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39- Yes.- Carol Anne Hunt.
0:41:39 > 0:41:44- ALL:- Cheers.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48It's been fab. Really, really very special. They've been brilliant.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50It's a long time that my mum's been looking.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53You kind of thought of it was never ever going to happen.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55And now it's happened.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59Mum's not a particularly emotional person, and now, today, stood
0:41:59 > 0:42:02right next to you, you could feel how pleased and excited she was.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04It sort of completes everything for her.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06- Really, really nice feeling.- Yeah.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08They're a great bunch of people as well.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11- PHILIP:- Mum be very proud that we found them.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16And I'm so happy for Auntie Maureen that she's found closure.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20She is a wonderful woman and I'm just very happy for her.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24It's almost like the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle for all of us.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27It's lovely to know now the that we will keep in contact,
0:42:27 > 0:42:29and with the next generation coming through.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33And seeing us all together in the one room, it really is a family.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37From Mum's history, we have another side to our story,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39another chapter.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41That's all I need to mention.
0:42:41 > 0:42:4250 years...
0:42:42 > 0:42:47Yeah, it's been a long time coming. But it has paid off.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52It's nice when you find what you're looking for.