Bevan/Flynn Heir Hunters

Heir Hunters track down the families of people who died without leaving a will.

They hand over thousands of pounds to relatives who had no idea they were in line for a windfall.

Could they be knocking at your door?

Today, the Heir Hunters come across the name of a mystery man.

Will he provide the crucial clue to solve their case?

What I want to know is who he is.

And a woman who was orphaned by the Blitz is helped to find long-lost relatives she never knew existed.

-Lovely to see you.

-Cheers!

Plus a list of unclaimed estates worth nearly half a million pounds.

Could you be related to anyone on it and have thousands of pounds heading your way?

Every year in Britain, over 300,000 people die without leaving a will.

If no family is found, their money goes to the government.

That's when the heir-hunting companies step in.

Using birth, death and marriage records,

they race each other to be the first to track down any long-lost relatives entitled to inherit.

Fraser & Fraser is one of the oldest firms of Heir Hunters in the UK.

We've found the death of the brother.

In its 30-year history, the company has tracked down over 50,000 heirs

entitled to a whopping sum of over £100 million.

It's 7am, Thursday, in Fraser & Fraser's London office.

The staff are already hard at work.

Thursday is the most crucial day as it's when the government releases the Bona Vacantia,

its weekly list of those who have died with no known heirs.

Head of the company Neil Fraser has studied the list and allocates cases to his managers.

-Starting at 1, Bevan, you're working on it, aren't you?

-Yeah.

Frances Brett has been working at Frasers for 12 years.

No case is ever the same, but she hopes today will be plain sailing.

The case I'm looking at today is that of Myrtle, otherwise Tess, Bevan of Poole in Dorset.

To earn their commission, the Frasers team must piece together Myrtle Bevan's family tree,

working out generation by generation who her relatives are and if any are still alive.

But they haven't got a second to spare. Other heir-hunting companies will be working on this case

and it's often the first heir hunter to reach the heirs

that wins the business of helping put in their claims to the Treasury.

First of all, Frances looks up Myrtle Bevan in the electoral roll and finds her last known address.

Myrtle Bevan lived in a flat belonging to a housing association in the seaside town of Poole.

She died in July 2007, leaving no will,

and the authorities believed she had no living relatives.

To find out if this is the case,

Frances needs to speak to someone who knew Myrtle.

It's impossible to know who her friends were,

but Frances can track down her neighbours.

Maybe they were close to Myrtle

and can reveal some crucial clues about her family and past.

-OK, bye.

-The call to Myrtle Bevan's neighbour has been invaluable.

Frances now not only knows Myrtle had a sister Joyce,

but also that when Joyce died, she left Myrtle her life savings,

making Myrtle a richer woman than Frasers first thought.

It's given us an idea of the value on this and that could be between £135,000 and £150,000,

mainly from her sister's estate.

Now there's even more reason to get a move on and track down heirs before the competition.

Assisting Frances on this case is Research Director Gareth Langford.

Gareth uses Myrtle Bevan's maiden name of Ranson

to search through Frasers' vast database of every birth that has taken place in Britain since 1841.

And he comes up trumps.

Got it. OK, she was born in June 1922 by the looks of it.

Mother's maiden name Diss, a very unusual name. Got to be the right one.

He then works out that Myrtle's parents were called Harold Ranson and Beatrice Minnie Diss.

He quickly finds a marriage record.

There it is. Doesn't happen often!

And he also finds a record for both of their deaths.

There it is.

But he's finding it harder to get any further with the family tree.

Let's try and find Harry's birth.

That's because, although they know from the death record that Harold Ranson was 81 when he died,

there are birth records for two Harold Ransons in the same year,

one in Guildford and one in Tendring.

Gareth doesn't know which is the right one.

It could be either one.

The situation with Beatrice Minnie is even worse.

According to her death record, she was born in 1892,

but the only birth record Gareth can find for a Beatrice Minnie Diss is someone born in Eastbourne in 1887,

which is wrong by five years.

There can't be many Beatrice Minnie Disses. That's five years out.

One's not been registered properly or she's lied about her age.

The only way to move forward is to get hold of the official marriage certificate of Harold and Beatrice

and a hard copy of their death certificates.

These will give the names of witnesses, the occupations of the parents and the places of birth,

all vital clues which could help unlock Myrtle's parents' true identities.

All right. Bye.

The certificates are held at Portsmouth Register Office, 75 miles from the Frasers office.

But fortunately for the Heir Hunters, distance is no problem.

Frasers employs a squadron of travelling Heir Hunters

who spend their Thursdays at the wheel of their car, ready to go wherever the hunt takes them.

Their job is to sniff out clues and follow new leads.

Their ultimate aim is to get to any heirs and sign them up before rival heir-hunting companies.

The nearest one to Portsmouth is Southampton-based Bob Barratt.

Neil gives him today's assignment.

The deceased is Myrtle. Her parents are Harry Ranson.

He was married to Beatrice Minnie Diss. We haven't got a birth for her in 1892.

What we have got is a birth in September of 1887, five years prior to when she was meant to be born.

-It may be that her age is five years out.

-Not unknown for ladies to do such things.

The team also hope that the Register Office will have Myrtle's sister Joyce's death certificate

which could give them vital clues.

So I've got three deaths and a marriage, hopefully, from Portsmouth.

Fran's got this, but you can speak to me. I'm only doing six cases(!)

OK, Neil. Speak to you later.

Speak to you soon, mate. Bye.

Right, Portsmouth.

Bob takes on the challenge with gusto, but he's got a real reason for hoping it won't be a long day.

It'd be nice not to be too late tonight. It's my wedding anniversary.

It would be nice to get home at a reasonable hour.

In the office, the team are anxious to crack the case quickly too.

With Myrtle's estate worth £135,000,

they know other companies will be trying to track down heirs too.

Realistically, it would be stupid to think that nobody else will be looking at this matter.

You've always got to treat the case as though it's competitive.

Just because we spoke to the neighbour and appear to have been the first person to do so

doesn't mean that she won't have had calls subsequent to my conversation with her

and given out exactly the same information that she gave to me.

Bob's racing down the motorway to get his hands on the certificates.

The team don't want to sit around doing nothing, so they put together possible family trees

for both of the Harold Ransons and for the Beatrice Minnie who is five years too old.

It's now 12pm and Bob has arrived at Portsmouth Register Office.

I'd like to apply for three deaths and one marriage certificate, if I may, please.

Complete those forms.

Coming up - will the office have Myrtle's parents' marriage certificate and death certificate?

Will they give the team vital information?

Plus the amazing story of an orphan's quest to find blood relatives she's never met.

Hopefully, somebody out there, one of them, will turn up trumps.

Now your turn to try your hand at heir-hunting

with some of the cases that the professionals haven't managed to solve themselves.

Imogen Florence Watkins died in Woolwich, London, in August 2006.

She was 88 years old and left an estate worth £36,000.

Are you related to Imogen? Do you know someone who is?

Robert Wardle Lyle died in Chertsey, Surrey, in May 2006.

He was 77 years old and left an estate worth £20,000.

Are you part of Robert's family?

Could you be entitled to his money?

Angela Maria Comi died in Colchester, Essex, in July 2006.

She was 63 years old and left an estate worth £23,000.

Are you Angela's relative? Could her cash go to you?

If you have any information about these unsolved cases,

then take a look at our website:

A knock on the door from the Heir Hunters can change lives in amazing ways, not always because of money.

News about long-lost family members can affect an heir most deeply.

I'd sooner have him than any money.

Such was the case with the estate of Joseph Flynn, investigated by Heir Hunter Mary Teviot.

Mary runs her heir-hunting company Census Searches from her family home in Burgess Hill,

alongside her husband Charles.

Yes, about ringing up West Yorkshire to find out where the Newby Hall archives have gone to?

-I'll do that.

-Today?

-Yes.

-Thank you very much.

They're not your average Joe Public. Mary and Charles are a Lord and a Lady, but don't stand on ceremony.

If you're not "cor, blimey", it might help, but often one wouldn't say one was Lord or Lady Teviot.

Mary is often employed by solicitors from abroad

who want her to find British heirs due money from people who have died overseas.

-You've found it?

-Yes. I'll write it down. That'd be a good idea.

-Yeah.

And the case of Joseph Flynn was no exception.

Though born in Waterford, Ireland, Joseph died in Calgary, Canada.

One started the case and it came from the Public Trustee in Alberta who are based in Calgary.

I think the first letter was about possibly February 1994.

And it see-sawed on and on until mid-1996,

so it took over two years.

Mary's research led her to Joseph Flynn's niece,

73-year-old Sarah Burgess, from Pendleton, Lancashire.

We'd just come back from holiday and my brother-in-law said, "There's a letter for you from Canada."

I said, "I don't know anybody in Canada." He said, "Let's open it up."

And I opened it up. I said, "Hey, I've got some money!

"I've got an uncle."

It worked out about £2,500.

It was a nice surprise, but it was a big surprise because I know nothing about the uncle that went to Canada.

It was a bit of family history I was quite pleased to get hold of.

Although the £2,500 inheritance was a bonus for Sarah,

it was the news about a long-lost relative that pleased her the most.

Sarah was born in Birkenhead in 1935, shortly before the outbreak of World War Two.

And the war tore her family apart.

'Driven from the daylight skies, the Nazis turn to indiscriminate night bombing.

'They visit the full terror of air attacks on the ordinary people of Britain.'

Her father died shortly after her birth and when Sarah was five,

her mother and sister were caught up in the worst of the Blitz.

Well, when the sirens went this particular night...

We heard them coming over. I remember coming down the stairs holding my mum's hand and my sister Julie.

I can't say I remember anything after that.

Eventually, we got in the air-raid shelter, or I thought all three of us had got in the air-raid shelter,

then I remember going into hospital,

then I got told by the sister in the ward I was in

that my mum and sister had died.

I had no idea and I still don't know

whether there's any part of a grave or anything of my mum.

Or my sister. I have no idea.

No idea.

Having lost both her parents, Sarah was sent to an orphanage in Wales.

I don't remember much about it, but I know it was very strict.

We picked potatoes in the field in the freezing cold.

We used to have little jackets, no gloves. But those were the days.

A few months later, Sarah was moved to the place that became her home until she was 16 years old.

I ended up at St Joseph's in Patricroft, a home for boys and girls there. And I loved it.

It was brilliant. Every Christmas, you got a present that was yours.

It wasn't wrapped up, but you all got presents.

Here, Sarah made good friends who became for her a replacement family.

I think there was 50 boys and 50 girls. We're all still good friends.

We always end up talking about the old days, which you do when you get our age, and how good they were.

Perhaps we didn't always realise it.

In 1956, Sarah met her husband Arthur.

The couple were together until Arthur's death in 2000

and had a son and two daughters Jo and Janice and a granddaughter Jade.

Sarah lost her father at birth and her mother when she was five, so she remembers almost nothing about them.

Can't remember much of my dad, but I remember my mum.

I have a feeling I'm a bit like her in looks and what have you.

And she knows nothing about any of her parents' brothers and sisters.

But nearly 70 years after she lost her mother,

Sarah's now decided to find out more about her family history and perhaps even meet her own flesh and blood.

Just be a journey. A journey of discovery and surprise, I think.

Hopefully, somebody out there, one of them, is gonna turn up trumps.

And daughters Jo and Janice think it's important too.

-I think so because it's nice to know...

-Where we come from.

-Yeah.

I'd love to know where I get my red hair from. I'm the only one.

-Maybe there's more of me out there in Ireland.

-God forbid!

Today, Sarah has arranged to meet Lady Teviot in the hope of getting more information

about the other heirs to Joseph Flynn's estate, Sarah's relatives.

-Hello.

-Oh, hello.

Pleased to meet you, after, you know, quite a long time!

They look at Joseph Flynn's family tree.

-That's the one that you started from.

-And here you are, the baby of the family.

-Yeah.

At my age, 73, being the baby!

Who knows where they've ended up? You don't know.

I know now that you're interested in tracing some of your relatives in Waterford.

We have found a list of addresses to give to you.

They're all in Waterford, so we're hoping to contact some of those.

Joseph Flynn was one of eight children.

His brother Richard was Sarah's father

and his sister Mary married a man called Edward Doyle from Waterford.

Mary and Edward had eight children, many of whom went on to have children themselves,

meaning there might be dozens of Doyles related to Sarah, many of whom might still live in the area.

Mary has possible contact numbers for these Doyles.

The biggest point now is if they want to know.

I'm sure they will because they're the most hospitable country.

Mary also has something very special for Sarah - letters written by Edward Doyle to Joseph Flynn.

Here are a couple of letters from 1946 from Edward Doyle.

"Dear Joe..." Joseph who went off to Canada. "We received your letter.

"Glad to hear that you're in good health." And then the next letter tells about your mother.

-Oh, right.

-Here it says, "Now to tell you about Sall..." Obviously Sarah.

"..was killed in England and her little girl in an air raid in Birkenhead.

"We don't know anything of the rest of the family." And so the letter goes on. There's a lot in it.

It's very interesting to see that Joe actually knew about your mother.

-It's a very emotional thing.

-I wonder if they knew about me?

I shouldn't have thought so. The raid was in 1940, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-This letter is six years later, so they probably totally lost touch.

-It's just one of those things that kind of happens, isn't it?

-Yeah.

It's been a great pleasure to meet you and I wish you all the luck in the world with all that.

-Brilliant.

-Bye-bye.

-Thanks, love.

The meeting has moved Sarah deeply.

My mum being mentioned, it brings it home to me

that I do have an extended family who do know my mum and my family in some shape or form.

I'm hoping that one of them, if not more, will feel the same as I do and want to be in touch.

And it's been a memorable occasion for Mary too.

It was a very emotional experience for Sarah. I'm sure when she gets to Ireland, she'll get a warm welcome

because she's a delightful person

and it's wonderful to see somebody who had a shattered childhood become such a wonderful, humorous lady.

Coming up - will Mary's list of Doyle phone numbers do the trick?

I'm just wondering if you might be a relation to me?

And will Heir Hunter Bob Barratt sign up some heirs and get back in time for his wedding anniversary?

At Fraser & Fraser, the team are investigating the case of a Myrtle Bevan

who died in July 2007 without leaving a will.

Myrtle didn't own her own property, but the Heir Hunters believe her estate is worth a fair sum of money

because a neighbour revealed that Myrtle's sister Joyce had left her an estate of £135,000.

But the team are struggling to piece together Myrtle's family tree,

which they need to do to find any heirs.

-Her age is five years out.

-Not unknown for ladies to do such things.

Bob Barratt has gone to Portsmouth Register Office to find clues about Myrtle Bevan's living relatives.

-Hi, Frances. I've got three deaths and one marriage here.

-Go on then.

-Beatrice Minnie Ranson.

-Yeah.

-22nd of September, 1973.

-Yeah.

And she was born on the 25th of July, 1892.

-Where?

-In Eastbourne.

-Yeah! OK.

-Got that one right, did we?

-No, she lied about her age.

-She knocked five years off.

-She did.

-At least we know that birth is correct.

-Good.

-Do you want any details from the marriage certificate?

-Go on then.

-He's 28, she's 27.

-She's lied all the way along.

-Yeah.

They've worked out her age at death from her lies that started when she got married.

-It's a girl thing.

-SOME girls!

The team now know the identity of Myrtle's mother Beatrice Minnie,

even though her desire to make herself younger almost threw them off the scent.

Bob also clarifies which is the right Harry Ranson.

-Harry Ranson, born 6th of December, 1891, in Guildford.

-Guildford, yeah!

The ceremonial crumpling up of the wrong tree!

On top of the marriage and death certificates for Myrtle's parents,

Bob also has the death certificate of Myrtle's sister Joyce

and this gives the team an even more interesting clue.

Death of Joyce Lowden, she lived at 127... Sorry, this is the informant, Peter Marsh.

Peter Marsh is not a member of the family, but because he informed the authorities about Joyce's death,

he was the last person she ever saw.

Could you go and knock on Mr Marsh's door?

What I want to know is who he is.

-Okey-doke. Speak to you later.

-Bye for now.

Could Peter Marsh be the only person left who knew Myrtle's family well?

Could he give the team crucial clues to lead them to the heirs before the competition?

Bob makes his way to the address given for Peter Marsh on Myrtle's sister's death certificate.

It's looking particularly empty.

Fish and chip shop, which is convenient.

No-one in there.

Now I feel particularly daft cos I've come to totally the wrong place.

I thought you was gonna find my relatives!

But in his rush to get there and be in time for his big night out, Bob hasn't taken in the right address.

We might try and find the right road now!

Will he be lucky second time round and will Peter Marsh be able to give any leads to help crack the case?

Bob finally finds the house, but where is Peter Marsh?

I'm in the right road anyway, but no-one seems to be in.

He tries every neighbour, hoping someone will know how to find him.

My name's Bob Barratt from a firm called Fraser & Fraser. I'm trying to trace a gent that lived at 127.

He went to hospital. I haven't seen him come out.

The family was clearing out all the stuff.

-Sounds like he's long-term in hospital or he's died.

-Yes.

-I appreciate that. Thanks ever so much. Be seeing you. Bye-bye.

-Bye.

Right, well, that explains why the house is like this.

It isn't what Frances wants to hear.

-Hi, Bob.

-Hello. I've got bad news, I'm afraid.

-Mm-hm.

-I finally located this bloke's house.

And it's not semi-derelict, but it's in a pretty poor state.

-You might as well head home.

-Cheers, Frances. Bye.

It's a massive blow for the team.

Peter Marsh can't help them speed ahead with their investigation.

That's a bit of a pity. It's a bit of a mystery that we might never know the answer to now.

A bit frustrating, but never mind.

Now I'm gonna head back towards home and see what crops up.

Without somebody to speak to who hopefully knew the deceased and the family,

we are back to the drawing board and researching into the family the hard way,

searching through birth, marriage and death records without any clues we hoped Peter Marsh could provide.

The team must crack this case the long way and maybe wasted valuable time trying to find Peter Marsh.

Gareth sets to work. He looks up Myrtle's parents on a national population survey taken in 1891

and finds Myrtle's mother's siblings.

-She's got two sisters and a brother.

-And Myrtle's father's siblings.

We've got Harry Ranson and he's got three brothers - Percy, John and... looks like Gilbert.

The next step is to find out what's happened to his siblings.

The maternal side has died out with no family members still alive

who could be entitled to any of Myrtle's estate.

But on the paternal side, he has more luck.

It's extending. We're finding marriages for the uncles of the deceased on the Ranson side.

So...hopefully they'll have children

and we'll work the tree up that way.

Gareth knows from the census that Harold Ranson's parents were William and Mary.

They had four children - Harold, Percy, John and Gilbert.

He now works out that Gilbert Ranson married a Catherine Pace in 1916

and they had two children, Leslie and Audrey.

Audrey is no longer alive, but she had a son, Andrew Bruce, who is.

Andrew is Myrtle Bevan's cousin once removed and an heir.

At the moment, we've got a cousin of the deceased who hopefully we'll contact soon.

A cousin once removed, Andrew Bruce.

We need to get a traveller to him. He's not on the phone, so the earlier we contact him, the better.

-Frances gets on the phone to Bob Barratt.

-Hi, Bob.

-Hiya.

We do have a branch up to date on Gilbert.

-Right.

-He lives still in the Guildford area.

-Right.

-Unfortunately, I have no phone number. Ex-directory.

-OK, I'll head towards then.

-Bye.

With Bob sent on yet another mission, his anniversary celebrations can't start yet.

After a slow start, we're finally getting somewhere with the research,

but it is a hard slog.

Now Gareth has got further with another of Myrtle Bevan's relatives - Gilbert's son Leslie.

-Are you gonna ask what I think is right?

-Yes.

Leslie was in Surrey in Addlestone, date of birth 23rd of March, 1918,

living with Gwendoline F.

-So Gwendoline F Ranson was Leslie's wife.

-Yeah.

Well, fortunately from Bob's point of view, I'm not gonna send him to Dorset tonight.

-He can see Andrew.

-Andrew Bruce.

-He's only 90.

-A mere babe!

-He's the youngster in the family at the moment.

Aged 90, Leslie is a first cousin of Myrtle Bevan.

Frances rings him up to tell him he's in line to inherit. Leslie's wife Gwendoline answers the phone.

I actually was hoping to speak with your husband Leslie.

But the response is unexpected.

It certainly is in reference to his first cousin dying, yes.

Have you? Well, fortunately, we are also looking at the same matter.

Another heir-hunting company has phoned Gwendoline and Leslie.

Unfortunately, somebody else has spoken to him before us,

so we hope that Bob, who is on his way to see Andrew, gets there first.

Now there is an extra reason for Bob to get to the second heir Andrew Bruce fast.

DOG BARKING Hello there.

-Is it Mr Bruce?

-Yeah.

-I'm Bob Barratt from a firm called Fraser & Fraser.

Bob Barratt's got past the dog, but has he got to Andrew Bruce before another heir-hunting company?

I got a phone call during the day to tell me this is what had happened

and they said they would send me a form.

-I say nothing bad about any other company, but we're...

-The best.

-Yeah.

It's bad luck for Bob. Andrew has already had a phone call from Frasers' rivals.

But they haven't paid a visit or given Andrew information on Myrtle.

The person who has died is a cousin on your mother's side.

-A cousin of my mother?

-A fairly distant relation.

-And as soon as we find an heir, we put a claim in on...

-Excuse me.

Yeah, sure, before she takes all the paint off!

My wife would be proud of me. It's my wedding anniversary today and I haven't had to look at the date.

-It's imprinted on your memory.

-More than my life's worth to forget it!

-Andrew...?

-James.

Unless there's anything else you'd like to ask me, I'll just ask you to consider us and I'll say goodbye.

-Nice to meet you.

-Thank you very much.

-OK.

His mission complete, Bob takes his leave.

Very pleasant man. I hope he uses us.

He's been contacted by one of our competitors before us,

but I'm sure if he uses us, he won't be disappointed. Time to go home!

Home for my anniversary.

In central London, another Thursday is done and dusted.

But a week later, the heirs to Myrtle Bevan's estate decided

to sign up with another heir-hunting company,

so all Fraser & Fraser's hard work on this case has been for nothing.

12 years ago, Heir Hunter Mary Teviot tracked down Sarah Burgess

who was an heir to the estate of Joseph Flynn.

Joseph Flynn was Sarah's uncle, although she never knew him.

In fact, Sarah knew almost nothing about her ancestors as she'd been orphaned at just five years old

when her mother and sister were killed by a bomb.

I have no idea whether there's a grave of my mum and sister.

12 years after Mary tracked her down and spurred on by her daughters Janice and Jo,

Sarah has built up the courage to do her own bit of family finding.

She's asked Mary Teviot for help

and Mary has given her a list of people with the surname Doyle living in Waterford, Ireland.

Sarah hopes that at least one might be a relative.

It'll take time to get in, won't it?

CONTINUOUS TONE No dialling tone.

Dead.

Try the next one.

-RINGING TONE Is that a Thomas Doyle?

-Yeah.

STILL RINGING

Nobody home.

Third time lucky?

Five...one...two.

RINGING TONE

-'Hello?'

-Hello. Is that Betty Doyle?

-'It is.'

I'm calling from England. I'm just wondering if you might be a relation to me?

Did you have a legacy of, eh... an Uncle Joseph?

'Joseph Doyle?'

-No, Joseph Flynn.

-'I did.'

Well, I'm his brother's daughter.

-'You're Sarah?'

-Yeah, the youngest of Richard and Sarah's children.

It's great news for Sarah. She's got through to a Betty Doyle.

They're related because Joseph's brother Edward had a son called Tom who is the father of Betty,

making Betty the first cousin once removed of Sarah.

-It's wonderful to know that somebody is there.

-'We are so long-tailed a family, it's unbelievable!'

-Oh...

-'It is absolutely enormous.'

Well, do you know, we want to come over. Is there any chance of that, say, in about two or three weeks?

-'Yes.'

-Myself and my two daughters.

Oh, I'm gonna get upset now. It's so brilliant to get...

-So will I leave it with you?

-'OK, Sarah.'

-Oh, it's lovely. All right.

-'OK, bye-bye.'

-Bye, chuck.

-'Bye-bye, lovey.'

I'm getting upset now.

I honestly didn't know whether they'd be pleased or not.

Well, she sounds like she's gabby like you!

THEY LAUGH

Full up.

That's the first family...

Oh, don't ask me! First family that I've ever been in touch with.

As we know, there's loads of them, isn't there?

Yes, brilliant. I don't know where to start actually.

-To think all these years we never bothered.

-I know.

If it hadn't been for Uncle Joseph, none of us would have known. I just can't wait to go.

Getting in touch with relatives has triggered a desire in Sarah to find her mother and sister's graves.

Beautiful place.

Her daughter Janice has done some research and they are visiting a cemetery in Birkenhead

where Janice thinks they are buried.

Mum, did you know that your dad's buried with them as well? We didn't know, did we?

No, I never knew.

-Can't be that much further away, can it?

-No.

-We're gonna get right muddy, aren't we?

-We should've brought our wellies.

-Yeah, I thought about that myself.

-This is it, Mum.

-This?

Yeah, unfortunately. Maybe the headstone's underneath, I don't know.

STARTS SOBBING I didn't want to get upset!

-Just look at it.

-Yeah.

-Couldn't even...

I don't know that I wanted to see it after all.

It's too much...

It doesn't seem much, does it?

-Oh, I don't know.

-At least we know where they are, Mum.

-We didn't even think they were together.

-Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it's so sad.

All these years.

No headstone, no nothing.

But I'm glad. I'm glad I've seen it at last. Well, before my turn, but...

Just grass.

Enough. Enough.

Can't do anything.

Leave it there.

Now Sarah knows where her mother and sister are buried, she can draw a line under her past.

It's time for her next mission - finding living relatives she's never met before,

uncles, aunts and cousins related to the parents she hardly even knew.

Sarah and her daughters are off to Waterford

where, according to cousin Betty, there are dozens of family members.

Sarah's Irish relatives are waiting for her in a restaurant.

Do you know what? I've got a fit of the giggles!

GIGGLING

Oh, dear!

Sarah enters and for the first time in her life meets relatives

from her parents' generation and blood relations she never knew she had.

Pleased to meet you at long last.

-Great.

-Lovely to see you. And you have a resemblance to us as well.

You do, a great resemblance. Lovely to see you, Sarah. Lovely to see you.

-Pleased to meet you. A first cousin once removed.

-Lovely to see you.

-Pleased to meet you.

-I can't believe it.

-I'm Eddie and this is my father.

-Pleased to meet you.

With the help of Mary Teviot, Sarah is now part of a huge family in Ireland.

-I bet you never dreamed...

-It is a dream.

-A dream come true.

-A second cousin.

-You're Thomas?

-Yeah. Lovely to meet you.

And Sarah's daughter finds out she's not the only one with the ginger gene.

And I'm a second cousin Mary. And I had two redheads.

You have so many cousins, you won't even want to know them!

We've been through everything -

scared, apprehensive, are you gonna like us?

We rang three numbers here first

and we didn't get anybody, then we got you.

-And Betty was in!

-Lucky you!

-It's thanks to Betty we're here.

-How could we refuse such a request?

We couldn't. We couldn't.

I'm delighted to have been able to do it for you.

Because I thought I had nobody.

No, well, there you go.

It means the world to Mum,

finally to meet the family she knew in the back of her mind she had,

but never in a million years thought she would ever get to meet them.

It's all been worthwhile. Absolutely.

I can't...

There's only one word I can use. I'm overwhelmed. Overwhelmed.

And it's all thanks to Uncle Joe that we're all doing this and meeting up again.

It's opened up another life for my mum now.

I can't...

I'll get too upset. I'm just...

-Very pleased that you exist.

-It's the first blood family.

-All right, Mum.

-APPLAUSE

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

It's a lovely occasion.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd