AN appeal for help in The Northern Echo has helped reunite a family who had been separated during the Second World War.

Margaret Newman moved to Gloucester from the Richmond area with the Women's Royal Auxillary Corps in the 1940s, married, and never returned to North Yorkshire.

She left behind a brother, Anthony, and, having gone their separate ways, the two lost touch.

As both were born before their own mother married, Mrs Newman never mentioned her brother to her own children, as being born out of wedlock carried more of a stigma for her generation than it does today.

But, with her health failing recently, she decided to end her silence about her family background and told her children of their long-lost uncle.

Her son, Keith, contacted The Northern Echo for help tracing Anthony Glenton, who he knew lived in the Richmond area. The response was overwhelming.

Sadly, Mr Glenton died in 1995 - but his family still live in and around the town, and have since met with their relatives from the South.

"Meeting his son, David, was amazing," said Mr Newman, who travelled to Yorkshire from his home in Plymouth. "I also discovered my mother had another brother, who died in 1984, and once again I met his son, Anthony.

"Everyone I met and spoke to in and around Richmond was extremely friendly and helpful, especially Rita Peary and Neil Turner, of the Milbank Arms, in Barningham.

"Without their help, I would never have found so much information to give my mother and, although she is in very poor health, when I gave her all the news, the smile on her face said it all."