Long-lost sisters meet for first time

Lynn Holliday and Janet Smith, both aged 57, share the same father and were born just two months apart to different mothers.

But Lynn was given up for adoption after being born in a mother and baby home in Kendal.

She grew up happily with her adoptive family in Liverpool and never knew she had a half-sister until collecting her adoption records in July this year.

She discovered her biological mother, Becky Cotton, had fallen pregnant at the age of 27 to a man called Donald Hayes — a man she had had a relationship with for years but never married.

The mum-of three trawled the internet for more information, looking for her mother’s name, occupation and Bolton on the internet.

The search led her to the website Genes Reunited and a seven-year-old post from woman named Janet Smith — who had been looking for Lynn.

All she knew was that Janet had grown up in Great Lever and trained as a nurse in Bolton.

She hoped readers of The Bolton News might know of her half-sister and wrote to the paper — and her story appeared on our Looking Back pages.

A friend of Janet’s saw the story and contacted her pal to tell her.

Janet, who had been searching for Lynn for years, said: “I was so shocked because my research had got nowhere before.

“It was the last thing I expected, but my friend said to me that she’d seen the article in the paper about someone looking for her half-sister in Bolton.

“I phoned my daughters and my husband John; they were really excited. When I came to The Bolton News office, I got hold of the article and there was Lynn’s picture. It was fascinating.”

After a first phone call, the pair agreed to meet in Manchester.

Lynn, a retired social worker, said: “I was so nervous. All of a sudden it was all very real.

“We’d agreed to meet at a pub and I had no idea what she looked like.”

Janet, a mum-of-two, said: “I was sat outside the pub because I was early and I am never early.

“I’d already finished my lime and soda so all I had was an empty glass in front of me.

“When Lynn arrived I asked her what she’d like to drink and she said asked for a lime and soda — so that broke the ice because it was funny.

“We sat there all afternoon and chatted about our families. We were both pleasantly drained at the end of it.

“Both of our families have been delighted. I think my mum would have wanted to me to find Lynn too.”

Their story — which would not be out of place in the television show Long Lost Families — has amazed them both.

Lynn said: “I couldn’t believe it when I first saw that post on the website.

“When you’re adopted it’s a very big decision to find your birth family. Your birth siblings may not even know about you and it affects their lives too.

“I wasn’t interested when I was younger. The only time I used to feel sad was on my birthday. I would think about my mum and how she was feeling.

“I think a lot of people feel ashamed when they’re adopted and I had always felt ashamed. But that website post proved that Janet wanted to find me too and that the feeling was mutual.

“My adoptive brother Peter was really excited too and that was important because I didn’t want to upset him. He didn’t have a problem with it at all.”

The pair’s families have both hit it off too, when they attended the wedding of Janet’s daughter Jill last month.

They are now making plans for more get-togethers in the future.

Lynn added: “I would still like to find out more about my mum, but it has been wonderful to find Janet. I never realised I had so many feelings for my birth family.

“Meeting Janet has definitely filled a void. I never thought I would be able to talk about it. Now we can get to know each other in our own time and enjoy what we’ve found.”