A WOMAN who travelled to Evesham to visit the grave of her mother was celebrating this week -after finding a whole family she never knew she had.

Not only did she find the grave, she discovered three brothers and three sisters she didn't know existed.

When Kathleen Moore turned to a complete stranger at Hampton cemetery to help her find the grave, she had no idea what she had stumbled across.

For the man she asked for help, David Johnson, knew exactly where the grave was because he was her cousin.

"I was walking around the cemetery trying to find my mother's grave but I couldn't spot it and I was getting upset," Kathleen said this week.

"My daughter Kimberley said, 'why don't you ask that man'. He was the only one there and when I asked he said he knew exactly where it was and as we started to talk more I found out we were related," said kathleen.

Kathleen, who lives in Solihull, had been given away as a baby when her mother, who lived in Evesham, died three days after her birth.

On talking to David and realising who he was, she soon discovered she had a whole new family to meet including six siblings, three sisters, Lesley Gliddon, Gillian Byng and Sally Freeman and three brothers, Michael Turner, John Turner and Andrew Turner.

One of her brother's, John, explained: "We lived in Fairfield then Hampton and Kathleen was the seventh child and my mother, also called Kathleen, died soon after aged just 38. "My father, John William Richard Turner, could not cope and so he gave her to very distant relatives in Solihull to be looked after.

"We have all tried to get in touch over the years but her aunts and her uncles all told us she wanted to get in touch then she would."

At an emotional reunion at Hampton Cemetery, the seven siblings were together for the first time in their lives before heading to Norton Grange for a meal.

One of Kathleen's sisters, Gill Byng said: "It's absolutely amazing, I'm thrilled. I've always felt there was something missing and this has completed the circle."

Kathleen added: "I'm elated, it's fantastic, a dream come true. It was so strange how it happened. I didn't know if all my family were still alive or whether they were still in Evesham. It's incredible, I've always wanted a big brother and now I have three as well as sisters and all the nieces and nephews I've gained too."

6 Kathleen Turner(centre) meets the family - three brothers and sisters she never knew she had.(Clockwise from bottom left: Michael Turner, Lesley Giddon, Gill Byng, Andy Turner, John Turner and Sally Freeman. jul 06054-c