DORIS ROBBINS of English Bicknor is overjoyed after finding the sister she last saw 66 years ago is alive and well and living in Sheffield.

Doris lost touch with Lydia – now named Shirley – after their mother died giving birth to the little girl. Her father, bringing up eight other children including Doris, had been unable to cope and the baby was taken in by the National Children's Home.

Now at last they are soon to meet again thanks to Doris's appeal for help in the Review in January.

"I knew I had to keep trying to find her. I knew she was alive all along but that didn't stop it being a surprise when she was found," said Doris.

"But all last week was terrible because we wrote to ask if she would like us to get together and I kept thinking she might not want to see me.

"Then the letter came back that she would be delighted if we met. I was overjoyed."

Detective work instigated by specialist South West Adoption Agency (SWAN) agent Carol Bull, supported by the Review, eventually traced Shirley through the painstaking task of searching old National Children's Home and adoption records.

The Review is now helping Carol Bull to escort Doris to see her sister in about a month's time.

The family lived at Aylburton when their mother died – Doris now only has her new found sister and one brother left. Two of her brothers died in a fire, one sister died of meningitis at 19, and another sister was murdered in London by a former boyfriend. Another brother committed suicide after losing a leg to TB following a football accident.

The only thing she knew about her sister was that she was registered in Chepstow as Lydia Josephine Jones, born in July, 1935.

Carol Bull told the Review she too was delighted by the happy outcome.

SWAN has a helpline for others who might want to trace adopted relatives – 0845 601 2459 – which is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10am-2pm or Tuesday evenings 7pm-9pm.