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Search forTears as Becky meets the dad she thought she would never know
Friday, June 13, 2008, 07:30
Only minutes earlier the pair had been total strangers but as Becky hugged her father Andy tightly, it felt like she had known him for years.
And as she glanced up from his arms she was met with smiles from aunties, uncles, cousins and a sister she had also never met.
“It's like I've started a new chapter in my life,” she said.
“I was really nervous before meeting him but I needn't have worried, as it was perfect.
“We both cried when we saw each other but as soon as we started talking it felt like I'd known him for years.
He's a taxi driver so he definitely has the gift of the gab.
“There were so many other family members there too, cousins, aunts and uncles – people I had never met or even knew about.
“Even though I didn't know anyone it wasn't difficult at all.
“I had taken my children with me too and dad was a natural grandfather – he took to it so easily. I couldn't have asked for anything better.”
Becky, of Townsend Grove, Chellaston, had had no contact with her father since she was six months old.
Her parents separated and then later divorced and Becky went to live with her grandparents.
The 27-year-old recalls calling her grandmother “mum” and lived with the couple until her grandmother suffered a series of heart attacks from the age of 40.
Becky said: “For the majority of my life I had been looked after by my grandparents until my grandmother had a heart attack when she was just 40 years old.
“This was followed by three other attacks which left her very ill, too ill to look after me.
“Sadly she died six years ago.
“After leaving my grandmother's I lived with my mum for a bit but when I was 15 I decided to move out and live on my own and it was then that I had my first child.
“I had always thought about looking for my dad but never really knew how to go about it.
“I had always wondered about him, wondered what he was like, what he looked like and whether I was anything like him.”
About four weeks ago, Becky, who is studying for a national diploma in public services, was searching the internet when she came across a site called www.trace smart.co.uk, which helps to reunite people.
She filled in an application form, including the few details she knew about her father, and thought nothing more of it until she got a phone call out of the blue.
“The application form just asked for a few details and all I really know were that my uncles were called Jack and Chris,” she said.
“ I really didn't think anyone would be able to find my dad with that little information. I put my mum's phone number down as a contact just to be on the safe side,” said Becky.
“Then out of the blue my brother called to say that my dad had phoned the house.
“I thought he was joking. It was really hard to take it all in.
“I called him back. It was so strange to hear his voice but it wasn't awkward at all.
“We called each other for a couple of days before we arranged to meet at a pub in Ashbourne.”
Becky took her five children with her to the reunion, 11-year-old Amelia, Dominic, nine, Alexandria, seven, five-year-old Isabella and three-year-old Carlos.
And as well as being reunited with her father, who lives in Manchester, she also got to meet two uncles, two aunties, her half-sister Megan as well as discovering that she has 14 cousins.
Becky added: “Megan is fantastic and my uncles were all telling me how they remembered me when I was a baby.
“We all look quite similar, I'm quite small and obviously get that from my dad's side of the family.
“My dad had always assumed that I didn't want to know and I thought the same about him.
“Mum had never really talked about him and I never really pushed her for information.
“There is still a lot to catch up on but I'm really excited about the future.
“I can't wait to see him and the family at Christmas.
I have never really got to know what it would be like to have a huge family around me eating Christmas dinner.”
Since their first reunion on Monday, Becky and her father met up for a second time yesterday.
She now hopes to have regular contact with her father who had been not been in her life for all those years.
Owen Roberts, communications manager at Tracesmart, said: “This is typical of the type of work we do here at Tracesmart but it's always satisfying to see such a happy conclusion to our search.
“We are delighted that we have been able to reunite Rebecca and her father, Andrew, after 27 years.
“They now have the rest of their lives to catch up.”
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