IDENTICAL TWINS, JIM AND HENRY HAMMOND REUNITED WITH SISTERS
A pair of identical twin brothers had a joyful reunion with their elder sisters after 50 years apart thanks to Friends Reunited. Jim and Henry Hammond, 79, lost touch with Doris, 81 and Kay, 88, after their parents died and the women moved to US and Canada.
But when the men went to a school reunion organised via Friends Reunited they learned a niece was researching their family tree.
Henry, a former stockbroker from Holland-on-Sea in Essex, who is the younger twin by 20 minutes, said: “After a long chat it was learned that they were in contact with our sisters so I obtained their telephone numbers and their addresses and that was that”.
That led them to Kay of Orlando, Florida and Doris of Ontario. They all met when the sisters travelled to England.
Ex –Raf worker Jim, of Hadleigh, Suffolk, said: “It was very emotional”
RONALD TAYLOR REUNITED WITH HIS BROTHER DAVID
Ronald Taylor and his brother David were both born in Salford around the Pendleton area, but when Jim was five, his mother left, taking David with her. Although Ronald was very young, he never forgot about his baby brother.
He often thought about David and even tried to find him a few times over the years but was unsuccessful. Years later, Ronald got married and had a son, who he called David, named after his brother.
As Ronald approached his 60th birthday, his wife and son began thinking of holding a birthday party for him and thought it would be wonderful if they could find his brother, David. They managed to make contact with a relative on the Friends Reunited site who explained that David had changed his surname. With this new information, they eventually managed to trace David and inform Ronald they had found his long lost brother.
Ronald was over the moon to be in contact with his brother again and on Saturday the 31st of January, 2009, they finally met at Victoria Train station in Manchester. Ironically, David was living just a few miles away, living in Preston with his wife Tess. Ronald was thrilled to see his brother again. They had a wonderful day, catching up on the years they had missed and they are looking forward to meeting up again very soon, this time hopefully with more of the family.
18 YEARS COULDN’T KEEP SIMON AND ALISON APART
To his surprise, Simon Williams, a radio DJ from Carlisle, received an e-card from Alison, his old girlfriend from school, through Friends Reunited in June 2004. It had been more than 18 years since they’d last seen each other, but they decided to meet up anyway. Neither had ever married in the intervening years since they dated as teenagers. Needless to say the old sparks were still there and the rest is history – by October they were married and in March, became happy parents.
PAUL AND ALISON REUNITED AFTER 13 YEARS
Paul and Alison attended Prince Rupert School in Rinteln together (their parents were in the army). After school they went there separate ways, but they happened to meet again 13 years later at a school reunion on 1st Feb 2003, organised via Friends Reunited. Paul and Alison got talking and they clicked straight away. Within no time they were an item and just 2 weeks later they had moved in together. They were married on 16 July 2005 at Rippon Cathedral and in August 2006, the happy couple had their first child.
MOTOR ACCIDENT BRINGS KEVIN AND JANE BACK TOGETHER
Kevin Whitehead, 24, had a motorbike accident in 2002 and suffered from some memory loss. As a result of the accident, he registered on Friends Reunited where he got in touch with lots of his school friends, which helped him remember his past. And a wonderful thing happened – he also got in touch with Jane Peart, who was his girlfriend from when he was 14. They decided to meet up and low and behold they fell in love all over again!
NICKI CUFFARO FINDS 20 FAMILY MEMBERS
Within a month of entering her father’s details on Friends Reunited, Nicki went from a two person family to a family of over 20 cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces. Nicki was searching for her father, whom she hadn’t seen since she was five and was soon in touch with two half sisters who alerted her to the rest of the family. Nicki enjoyed a wonderful reunion with her father and all her other new found relatives and looks forward to catching up on the years she has missed.
KAREN AND TIM – PEN PALS REUNITED
Karen and Tim first met after both responding to a teenage magazine pen pal column. Unfortunately, disapproving parents forced the couple apart. They tried to keep the relationship going in secret, but it proved too difficult. Twenty-one years later, Karen was browsing Friends Reunited and decided to search for him. His name popped up and she emailed him. He emailed back and in May 2004, they were reunited. Within a week they knew they were meant to be together and on October 23rd, they got married.
