A PINT down the Labour Club became a family toast for two men who discovered they were related after being friends for 12 years.

Mike Cox, from Highfield Road, and Geoffrey Simpson, from Millfields, have regularly drunk together in Bromsgrove's Labour Club on Worcester Road.

But after Mike started a project last month to trace his family tree, he made a startling discovery.

A few weeks of research showed that his grandmother, Elizabeth Simpson - who was born in 1874 - was the sister of Geoff's grandfather George Simpson.

"I knew that my grandmother's surname was Simpson, the same as Geoff's," he said.

"I also realised she had two brothers, Thomas and George.

"We sent off for Mike's grandfather's marriage certificate and took some information from a 1901 census and we were able to confirm we were related, probably distant cousins.

"It was a great surprise, but I'm proud to have Geoff as a relation. I knew Geoff's uncle Jack Hudson, who was chairman of Bromsgrove Urban District Council in the 1960s, so I knew of him before we met."

Mike has so far traced his family back to Oxfordshire man Humphrey Slatter, who was born in 1525, and Geoff's relative Thomas Hanncocks, from Stoke on Trent, born in 1781. Although Geoff was surprised to discover he was related to his friend, he believes it was always a possibility.

"I had no idea until Mike came in and told me," he said.

"Bromsgrove was a small village back then, so if you go back far enough everyone could be related."