A MAN who has lived in Australia for almost 40 years was reunited with his family in Newton Aycliffe yesterday.

Leonard Marsh, 62, was a young man when he emigrated in 1962.

Fed up with his job, he decided to pack his bags and try his luck on the other side of the world - little realising it would be the next millennium before he came back.

He said: "I was only a young man and hadn't been away much. I didn't realise how far away it was and that I wouldn't just be able to come back unless I really planned it.

"As the years went by, I was pretty happy over there and you get wrapped up in your own life and work, but it's always in the back of your mind to come back."

Leonard, who has been married twice, worked on a farm and settled in Culburra Beach, in New South Wales, with his family. It was only when he retired that he decided the opportunity and time was right to come back to England.

He said: "It has been really good to meet up with my sister and the rest of the family after so many years, not knowing what they looked like in the flesh."

A reunion with Leonard's extended family, including sister Isobel and sister-in-law Margaret, took place in Newton Aycliffe.

Brother Sam met him off the plane, but the occasion was also tinged with sadness, because it was nine years almost to the day that his other brother, Bill, died.

Leonard, who is visiting until September 23, will spend his time visiting places he remembers from his youth.