23 September 2023 , 16:52
943
0
This is the touching moment when a 91-year-old wartime evacuee was reunited with her long-lost nieces after discovering her father lied about her mum's death in WW2.
Jean George’s last memory of her mum Alice is of her telling her to look after her younger sister Joan, as they were evacuated from Salford at the start of the war. She was left heartbroken when dad George, who served as RAF ground crew, sent a message through her hosts saying that Alice had died and she believed for eight decades it was in a bombing raid on the family home.
But Jean has now discovered that her dad lied about her mum's death after she fell pregnant with another man’s child. And, after a TV show tracked down her long-lost nieces - Dawn Draisey, 54, who lives in Manchester, and Cheryl Bardsley, 56, who emigrated to Canada with her family in 2006 - we reunited the trio for the first time on Friday at Jean’s Gloucester home.
Jean George's mother Alice Wass (MARC GIDDINGS)Through tears of joy, Jean said: ”It’s been very emotional. We have had cups of tea and pizza and we are going to have crumpets later.
“We just can’t stop talking to each other about our lives. I am at an age now, where I just sit here with my memories and this is going to be a great memory for me.”
EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likeness
Bursting into tears when she met her Auntie Jean, Cheryl said: “It’s been magical. I always take my shoes off when I get inside a house, but I couldn’t take them off this time - as soon as I saw her I just ran into the house and gave her a hug.
“We were both crying. It’s been a really special moment. Everyone deserves an Auntie Jean.” Dawn, who had met Jean once before, courtesy of the BBC2 show DNA Family Secrets, added: “Our mum Valerie died in 2017 and, ever since, I’ve been looking for signs from her – like a song on the radio or a butterfly.
Jean holding a photo of her mum (MARC GIDDINGS)“Of all the signs since her death, finding Jean has blown me away the most." It was not until she turned 90 and her son visited her childhood home in Salford that Jean - who lived with families in Knaresborough and Holker as a wartime evacuee - discovered that the house had never been bombed.
She said: “I always thought the family house in Salford had been bombed with my mother in it. But after my 90th birthday, I asked my son to have a look at the house to see what they had built there. He rang me a couple of days later and said the house was never bombed. That’s when I started wondering what happened to my mum.”
Jean asked the BBC for help in solving the mystery after spotting a notice in the British Evacuees Association magazine about an upcoming documentary for former evacuees who had lost their families. DNA Family Secrets took up her case, discovering that Alice had survived the war.
Dawn with Jean on their first meetingJean nearly sobbed when presenter Stacey Dooley showed her a black and white picture of her mum – the first she had ever seen. “I had forgotten what she actually looked like, so when I saw that picture it took me right back to when I was a little girl – when all I wanted was to see her again,” she said.
The show’s co-presenter Professor Turi King told her that Alice had another child called Valerie Wass - who was Cheryl and Dawn’s mum. And Dawn recalls Alice keeping a photo of Jean and Joan in her bedroom, which their own mum, Valerie, used to ask her about.
She said: “Grandma used to tell her ‘they are two special little girls’." Touched by this revelation, and overjoyed to be meeting family she never knew she had, Jean added: “I’m delighted that my mum never forgot us. This all feels like a dream come true.”
DNA Family Secrets airs at 9pm on Wednesday on BBC 2