{"id":35413,"date":"2024-07-15T02:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/12bb1dce-08d4-41bc-ba65-00e6e7d952cf"},"modified":"2024-07-15T02:53:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T00:53:11","slug":"i-am-over-the-moon-long-lost-family-reunites-mother-and-son","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/rss_feed\/i-am-over-the-moon-long-lost-family-reunites-mother-and-son\/","title":{"rendered":"“I am over the moon”: Long Lost Family reunites mother and son"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Monday, 15 July 2024 at 00:01 AM<\/p>

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The second episode of series 14 of ITV\u2019s family history series Long Lost Family<\/a> <\/em>will air tonight (15 July) at 9pm.<\/p>

First broadcast in 2011, Long Lost Family<\/em> is presented by Nicky Campbell<\/a> and Davina McCall<\/a> and follows members of the public as they seek to trace family members they lost contact with, whether children, parents or siblings.<\/p>

In tonight\u2019s episode, viewers meet 74-year-old retired council worker Paula Beer, who’s a fifth-generation resident of Bridgend, Wales<\/a>. When she was seventeen, Paula got pregnant after a short relationship with a local boy. She concealed the pregnancy from her parents and ultimately went to stay with her aunt in Essex to have the baby, who she arranged to have adopted.<\/p>

Find out how to access adoption records with our guide<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Paula gave birth to a boy in February 1967. She named him Paul.<\/p>
\u201cFrom the moment I held him in my arms for the first time, the love I felt for him then was unbelievable,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn’t think I would feel like that. And I knew I had to part with him. So I wanted not to feel like that.\u201d<\/p>
Paula movingly recounts the moment when she had to leave Paul with a temporary foster mother just three days after he was born.<\/p>
\u201cI was talking to him all the time,\u201d she says. \u201cI was saying \u2018I hope somehow or other you know the mother who brought you into this world loves you so much, and that she\u2019s doing this for you. Just remember my voice. Please remember my voice. I love you, my son, always.\u2019\u201d<\/p>
Paula says she lights a candle in church every year on Paul\u2019s birthday and prays to be able to find him one day.<\/p>
\u201cI can\u2019t ever expect love, but just knowing, seeing him, touching him perhaps \u2013 his hand \u2013 and knowing that he\u2019s always been loved, for me that\u2019s everything,\u201d she says.<\/p>
The Long Lost Family<\/em> team discovered Paul\u2019s name had been changed to Jim, and traced him living in the southwest. Jim is a former psychiatric nurse who now works from home and enjoys growing his own vegetables.<\/p>
It took Jim several months to decide whether he wanted contact with his birth mother, but he now says he wants to meet.<\/p>
\u201cI really want it to happen, and I couldn’t have said that a few weeks ago because I didn’t know what I thought,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I’m really looking forward to it\u2026 It’s something I never thought would happen. It\u2019s the biggest thing I’ll probably ever do in my life.\u201d<\/p>
In the other story of the episode, Davina McCall meets 54-year-old Sharon Thomas from the West Midlands. Sharon\u2019s mother Margaret had her when she was just sixteen, but died of leukaemia four years later. Sharon was brought up by her grandparents, Annie and William. After her grandmother died when she was an adult, her grandfather told her that she had a younger brother, who\u2019d been adopted.<\/p>
\u201cIt was a massive shock,\u201d Sharon says. \u201cAs soon as I found out, the overwhelming feeling was that I needed to find him.\u201d<\/p>
Sharon has her brother\u2019s original birth certificate<\/a>, which says his name was Dean. After he was adopted, his name was changed to Craig Knight. The Long Lost Family <\/em>team track him down living just twenty miles away from Sharon.<\/p>
Craig says he had a good upbringing with his adopted parents, but has always wanted to find out more about his birth family. He found out his birth mother died when he was eighteen, and was upset that he never had a chance to know her. He\u2019s shocked to find out that he has a sister.<\/p>
Paula Beer is overjoyed to hear that her son has been found and wants to meet her.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s lovely! He\u2019s gorgeous!\u201d she says when she sees a photo of Jim. \u201cI love him already!\u201d<\/p>
She\u2019s even happier when she and Jim finally meet. Jim tells her that she gave him the best start in life, as she wanted to do. He\u2019s also pleased to find out that he\u2019s Welsh.<\/p>
\u201cI just met my son and I am ecstatic,\u201d Paula says. \u201cThere\u2019s no other word for it. I am over the moon. I feel a bond, I feel love. He\u2019s exactly what I hoped he\u2019d be.\u201d<\/p>
Sharon and Craig are also very pleased to finally meet.<\/p>
\u201cI just hope now we can build on this bond we\u2019ve found,\u201d Sharon says. \u201cWe can share some important times.\u201d<\/p>
Craig agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re connected now. Nothing\u2019s going to separate that, because we are blood.\u201d<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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