MEMBERS of a family who have spent a lifetime not knowing that one another existed were emotionally united for the first time at the weekend.

Following a chance meeting between two cousins via a post on Facebook, close and distant relatives of the Sim family were able to finally discover each other as they met at The Ferry Hotel, in Walney, on Sunday.

The two cousins, Donna Foster, 49, of Barrow, and Jan Sim-Oliver, 53, who is now residing in Holland, were brought together on Facebook after Donna had posted a message that her mother, Jean Fones, had just found out that she was one of eight siblings of the Sim family.

Donna said: "When my mum found out she was one of eight siblings, she was utterly gobsmacked and completely overwhelmed.

"After she had been adopted she believed that she was an only child, so for her to find out that was obviously very emotional for her."

Jean, formerly with the name of Mavis Sim, had been adopted at seven years old, and spent time in Troon, Scotland and the Wirral (Merseyside) where she met her husband, she now lives in Ulverston.

Donna had been searching through library archives, and had come across the name of Doris Hough, who turned out to be her grandmother.

From there, she discovered that Doris Hough had been married and taken on the name of Sim.

After that, Donna realised that the dates of birth for all her mum's siblings matched those of the children of Doris Hough. As a result, they were able to find out the names of Jean's brothers and sisters.

Jean was united this weekend with one of her brothers, Derek Eliott, who had also been adopted to another family as a child, for the first time in 69 years. 

It turns out that for years they had been friends and had socialised with no knowledge of their relationship.

Mr Eliott said: "After I married my wife we moved back to Barrow in 1966. Jean and I lived around the same area, we had drank together and socialised and we'd had no idea we had been related."

Jan Sim-Oliver, from Walney, has been living in Holland for the past 17 years, and also has a sister that spent time living in South Africa before returning to the Barrow area. 

Jan was told by a friend about Donna's post on Facebook that they were searching for their relatives.

She then responded on the post informing Donna that she was her cousin.

As a result, Jan and Donna began talking, and pieced together how their family members were connected, and organised to meet up as Jan already had plans to visit the Walney area this month.

At the weekend, Jan said: "The years of not knowing to find out you have those brothers and sisters must have been mind-blowing.

"We were totally shell-shocked, and we had no idea that these members of our family existed."

It is believed that of the eight brothers and sisters,  a number of the younger ones were adopted and the older ones may have been sent out to work.

So far the family have been unable to contact three of the siblings - George, Maureen and Brian.

They hope that the family union will bring publicity that could help trace them.

Mrs Foster added: "So far everything has come together very smoothly and everyone has been so lovely.

"So if we could trace George, Maureen and Brian, it would be great, especially for my mum."