TWO sisters have travelled thousands of miles to the North-Eastin a bid to trace their roots.

Val Perriman, from Deloriane in Manitoba, Canada, and Kathleen Chadwell, who lives in Minot in North Dakota, USA, arrived in County Durham last week. It is the first time the sisters have visited the region as adults and they have spent their time trying to trace their family history and meet long-lost relatives.

Their father Dennis Crowe, now 71, lived in Tow Law until the Fifties but at the age of 19 he emigrated to Canada to take up farming. He married and built up a farm which now covers 5,000 acres and is run by Mrs Perriman and her husband Rick. Mrs Perriman, 44, said: "We started tracing our roots a few years ago, gathered some information and then stopped.

"This trip has enabled us to meet our father's cousins and niece in person and see photographs and records in libraries that we couldn't access back home.

"It will be a surprise for our father when we tell him what we've done and I'm sure he will be thrilled we've seen the places and met the people that make up his past."

She was also delighted that her two daughters, Heather, 21, and Beth, 17, could travel with them to see where their grandfather was raised.

Kathleen, 47, found much of their family history from the internet with the help of northern genealogist Geoff Nicholson, who has an intense knowledge of the area.

The women stayed with their father's cousin Arthur Wilkinson, and his wife Brenda, at Harperley Hall, Fir Tree, before flying home last Saturday.

Mr Wilkinson said: "It has been wonderful to see Dennis' family and important for us all to keep in touch."

Anyone with information on Dennis Crowe should email Kathleen Chadwell at kathychadwell@hotmail.com or call Brenda Wilkinson on (01388) 763510