Leeds brewery Northern Monk release special beer to mark forbidden love of employee's parents

Edmond was born in The Gambia in 1973. “My parents were in love, but they couldn’t be together,” he says.

“It was illegal for a nurse and a doctor to have a relationship. It meant my mum brought me up alone, and my father never had a relationship with his son.

“Some people knew my father had a son, but not who that was. From when I was born, I used my great grandfather’s surname and not my real one, Peters. When I came to the UK (30 years ago), I decided I needed to use my real name (his dad’s surname).

“I’ve always been quiet about my history and my story but recently something was telling me that I need to tell people.”

Edmond, who has worked at Leeds-based brewery Northern Monk for five years, approached his employers to see if they could help him to share his parents’ story. The result was the recent release of Reunited: The Edmond Peters Story.

Edmond’s mother, Emma, was a nurse who came and studied in England from The Gambia. His father, Lenrie Peters, studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and worked for the BBC on African programming, before returning to The Gambia. It was there the pair met.

“My mother and father both worked at the same hospital, where they met and grew closer together, and fell in love,” Edmond says. “But the law didn’t allow surgeons and nurses to have relationships.

"If they were discovered, they would have both lost their jobs. They were two of the best in their fields; my mum was a specialist midwife, and my dad was a surgeon.

“When I came along, they had to make a difficult decision, one that meant my dad couldn’t be with his son and the woman he loved. I was hidden and given a different surname.

"If you search my father’s name, you can find his whole biography and history. He was well known. But no one knew who I really was until I came to the UK and started using my real surname.

“I don’t blame my parents. They couldn’t help it. If you have spent your life and education studying to be a nurse or a surgeon and then you lose it, what can you do? You cannot help falling in love and you cannot help the law…

“I am sure I’m not the only one who has this story. There will be others whose parents couldn’t be together due to law and never had the relationship with a parent that they deserved. There will be others like me, with stories like me.

“Now that both of my parents have passed away, I feel I need to tell my story, and tell their story.”