TV programme reunites sisters after 66 years

Jennifer and Judith Walton have been reunited by the ITV programme Long Lost Family – and found out that they had both lived in Rotherham all their lives.

Jennifer, whose married name is Wilson, and her sister, who was named Kathleen by her adopted parents, later becoming Mrs Milnes when she married, said they were “amazed” at the discovery.

The sisters met each other for the first time in the town’s Clifton Park, where they both played as children without any idea of where the other was.

Mrs Wilson, a mother-of-three, was told of her adoption at 11 and found out that a woman she knew as Aunty Eva was actually her birth mother.

She also discovered at that time that she was one of twins, and said as life progressed she had wanted to track down the sister she never knew.

Mrs Wilson of Church View, Thrybergh, Rotherham added: “When we’re out shopping and people say: ‘are you sisters?’ we can say: ‘we’re twins!’

“This just means everything to me, everything. I’ve got a happy marriage, good grandchildren, daughters, but this is just so different.”

Mrs Wilson and her daughter Nicole had already tried to trace Mrs Milnes, but with only her birth name Judith Walton to go on, their search had hit a dead end.

They said that is when they decided to take part in the programme.

Mrs Milnes, of Eastwood Mount, Clifton, Rotherham, said the sisters saw the resemblance between each other as soon as they met.

She added: “I’d said: ‘I wonder if she’s a twin’ – I don’t know why.”

The programme will be broadcast on ITV1 on Thursday April 21 at 9pm.