A FARMER has met for the first time a cousin he never knew existed.

Canadian Shirley Ruttan knew she had a cousin somewhere in England but was struggling to track him down.

She and William Hurst, of Westhoughton, finally met - thanks to the Bolton Evening News.

Shirley sent an e-mail to the newspaper's Old Pals column, which appears on Saturdays. A reader spotted it and replied with a list of all the Hursts in the Bolton area.

After a flurry of phone calls to each of the numbers, Shirley finally got through to William and they prepared for a trans-Atlantic meeting.

The pair were united in an emotional scene at Manchester Airport on Saturday.

But the first hours of their meeting did not go so smoothly. Shirley's hire car had a blow out near the Reebok Stadium and they spent some of their first moments together changing the tyre.

Shirley then developed a stomach bug and had to spend more precious time in bed.

Now William, aged 62, is determined the rest of Shirley's week-long stay will get better. Shirley has two wishes - to go to Blackpool, and to visit the Coronation Street set at Granada Studios in Manchester.

William, of Landlord's Farm, Dicconson Lane, said: "It was very emotional at the airport. We have never met before so it's been very strange. I'm just hoping she will get better in time to see all the sights of the North-west."

William's grandfather, also William, emigrated from Canada to Hindley, near Wigan, in 1933, taking his 17-year-old son, Russell, with him. He left behind his married daughters.

In 1935, Russell met English girl Dorothy and the pair married. She later gave birth to William. But with the two sides of the family in different countries, they began to lose touch. When Russell died in 1981, the last points of contact disappeared until Shirley found her cousin.

William, who is married to Pamela, aged 60, said: "When my wife answered the phone and said it was a call from Canada, I nearly dropped through the floor. I was so pleased to hear from her.

"Shirley was initially going to stay in a hotel in Wigan but I told her she would be more than welcome to stay with the family on the farm. It's so lovely to see her."