Exclusive by Craig Manning

A WIRRAL mum was reunited with her long-lost brothers and sisters an incredible 53 YEARS later.

Patricia Carroll was adopted at a very young age but found her blood brothers and sisters after a year's search.

Patricia was born in Clatterbridge Hospital in June 1941, and her mother, Esther, left her in the care of neighbours Mr and Mrs Lindley shortly before her second birthday.

Patricia's new family later moved from Raby Mere to Bebington and officially adopted her when she was 11 years old.

Years later and curious to discover whether she had any other brothers or sisters, Patricia carried out her own research into her family history.

Using parish records and a company called After Adoption, who help people trace their birth family, Patricia's search revealed a number of things.

She discovered that her mother's first marriage produced the twins Joan and Freddie in 1947. Freddie died last year. Esther's other child, Kenny, was born in 1950.

Patricia's mother remarried in 1962 and had two more daughters, 53-year-old Corina and Margaret, 47. Her father, who was a farmer and gardener, died when Patricia was 17 and her mother passed away in 1994.

What came as even more of a surprise to Patricia was the fact that her brothers and sisters have all lived in Little Sutton for many years. Another interesting discovery was that that none of the siblings have any daughters, only sons.

After more than a year's search, phone calls were made and the siblings arranged to meet for their first lunch.

They took their emotional trip down memory lane at the Acorn pub in Bebington in August.

Now that she has found her brothers and sisters, Patricia says the family have become firm friends.

Patricia, who now lives with her husband in Wallasey and has two sons, told the Globe: "You read about this sort of thing happening to other people in books or in programmes on TV, but never think it will happen to you.

"I've always been close to my adopted brother and sister but just finding out that the others were out there is a fantastic feeling.

"The meeting was very emotional for all of us, particularly myself.

"I'm the eldest of the group and always knew I was adopted, but it wasn't until I was old enough to understand that I decided to find my brothers and sisters."

"To get to this age, get on with your life and learn that I'm the eldest of the group means a lot to me.

"Happily, I realised that my family are very close-knit. I now have other members of the family who I can turn to and it should make things like Christmas that extra bit special this year."

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