Our researchers featured in two episodes of the BBC One programme, Family Finders.
Series 1 – Episode 8
When she was a child, Sandie Smith opened a cupboard looking for some colouring pens and stumbled across a piece of paper which revealed she had been adopted. Sandie waited until she was an adult to try to trace her birth parents, but despite unearthing some tantalising leads she was unable to make a breakthrough until a professional family finder stepped in to help. Sadly, Sandie’s mother had passed away, but the family finder had much happier news – he’d traced her sisters, Sandie’s aunts. Sandie meets up with her aunts for an emotional journey into their past, as she finds out much more about the mother she never had the chance to meet.
Series 1 – Episode 9
Christina Boston grew up always knowing she was adopted. But when she set out to find her birth sisters with the help and encouragement of her adoptive mum Pam, Christina had no idea how difficult the search would be. It was a case that left the online family finding community baffled – until a professional got involved and was able to track down her sisters. In an emotional encounter, Christina introduces mum Pam to her sisters Rachel and Sarah for the very first time.
An Albury man has been reunited with his daughter after spending 51 years apart in opposite hemispheres.
Katie Bergin was nine months old the last time her 24-year-old father, Tony Brown, saw her in London.
Katie’s mum was taken to a home for unmarried mothers and asked to give up her daughter for adoption. She vehemently refused and eventually gave birth to Katie, in Liverpool.
“She told me that my dad’s name was Anthony Brown and he was originally from Wales,” Ms Bergin told 9NEWS.
The information proved to be little help in the search for her father, who had served in the RAF, moved to Australia by 1975 and remarried.
Ms Bergin contacted Fraser Kinnie of HeirHunter UK, who appeared on the BBC Family Finders Programme, he told her that the search would go far beyond the borders of the UK.
Ms Bergin told the Border Mail when she finally spoke to her father “it was a flood of tears – we both couldn’t speak”.
“He said to me, ‘It’s like the moon and the stars have finally arrived back on Earth’, and that’s what it’s like,” she said.
Ms Bergin has stayed almost two weeks at her 77-year-old father’s home, and soon plans to introduce him to his 21-year-old grand-daughter, Grace.
Staff from Hartlepool firm HeirHunter UK at the Big Tees Sleepout.
It was a freezing night but it did not stop these Hartlepool fundraisers from raising thousands of pounds as they slept – or at least tried to. Staff from town company HeirHunter UK proved they had warm hearts to go with their cold feet on a night of impressive backing for charity.
“We won’t change the world through the Big Tees Sleepout but we are helping to raise some money and raise the profile of an important issue” Andy Preston
They braved the freezing temperatures by sleeping out to help raise nearly £7,000 to fight local homelessness and poverty. They joined employees of RMB Auto and the local branch of Biffa for the chilly charity challenge. And they were among more than 50 fundraisers who took part in the eighth Big Tees Sleepout, which was organised by the charity Teesside Philanthropic Foundation.
The event was held on the pavement outside Middlesbrough College, and is the latest in a series of sleepouts which have been held over the past four years.
So far, the Big Tees Sleepout has raised more than £94,000 for worthy causes.
All of the funds raised in the latest sleepout will go towards supporting local food banks, as well as homelessness charities. It will also support Christmas appeals which are organised by the Salvation Army. Foundation chairman Andy Preston said: “I think we would all agree that homelessness and poverty should not exist on Teesside in the 21st Century, but sadly both are very real and affecting increasing numbers of local people.
“We won’t change the world through the Big Tees Sleepout, but we are helping to raise some money and raise the profile of an important issue.”
Mr Preston praised everyone who took part in the event for helping to back an important cause as well as putting up with horrible conditions.
He added: “Those who took part deserve massive plaudits for giving up their warm beds for a truly freezing cold night on the streets.” But now, the search is on for people to support the next fundraising event.
Organisers are hoping to hear from people wanting take part in the next Big Tees Sleepout in April next year.
Those interested should contact Mandy Shields by emailing mandy.s@teessidecharity.org.uk or by calling (01642) 686018. The Ultimate ‘Making Your Nose Happy’ Shop The Ultimate ‘Making Your Nose Happy’ Shop It doesn’t matter if its big or small, we’ve got the perfect gift for her.
Long lost family finally reunited after 30 years!
REUNITED: Terry Hanlon, Jenny Keshav, Cath Hanlon and Jenny’s daughter Gem
A FAMILY has been reunited after more than 30 years.
Long lost cousins Terry Hanlon, of Hartlepool, and Jenny Keshav were reunited after Mr Hanlon contacted a business which ordinarily specialises in tracking down relatives of recently deceased people.
As well as the cousins, Mr Hanlon’s 84-year-old mother Cath Hanlon and Ms Keshav’s 24-year-old daughter, Gemma, finally had the chance to meet.
The family drifted apart when Ms Keshav’s father, John Robert Tebbett, joined the Merchant Navy and moved to Margate where he met Ms Keshav’s mother, following an earlier marriage in which he had two daughters.
Now 54 and with four children and nine grandchildren, Jenny Keshav admitted she was a bit of a rebellious teenager and after living with both her mum and dad following their split years later, she spent a short time in care.
Jenny Keshav said: “To hear that people have been thinking about me all of this time was so lovely. I have just inherited an enormous family in Hartlepool. I am just so thankful to have met them all again.”
Terry Hanlon, a corporate responsibility manager, said: “Every time we have a family get-together the conversation would always get around to ‘I wonder what happened to our Jenny.’ Every time. We have tried numerous times to find her on social media and through old contacts we had but to no avail.
“Then I read about HeirHunter UK and sent them a message and Fraser Kinnie (managing director at the Hartlepool-based company) called me straight away and actually did the search while I was on the phone. I was absolutely amazed how quickly he located her and how much information he had at his fingertips.
Mr Kinnie, who lives in Seaton Carew, empathised with Ms Keshav’s situation which led to her being lost to the family. He said: “There are so many families lost through the care system and adoption who are desperate to find family members. That is one of the reasons why we offer the free family tracing service.”
Heir Hunters UK was set up by husband and wife team Fraser and Tracy Kinnie six years ago and specialises in locating missing heirs across the country.
They have helped to get hundreds of thousands of pounds to the relatives of those who have died without leaving a will.
