Hi All
BBC4 programme was well worth staying up for (although next Tuesday's isn't till 11.00 !).
Derek Overfield (had a really traumatic time when he was younger, both his parents died when he was reasonably young and he was sent to live with relatives who only really tolerated him and kicked him out when he was still only a teenager. When he visited his solicitor for the reading of his Dad's will he was told that he didn't exist and they didn't know who he was! What a bombshell that must have been. He turned to drink for a short while but fortunately found the local church, and his wife-to-be, and turned his life around so much that he ended up 'taking the cloth', becoming the Reverend Derek Overfield. (This was in Wales)
He only decided to seriously make efforts to find out who his real parents were much later on and only had the details on his birth certificate. His mothers maiden name was Cohen, and the informant's name was Bernstein so he approached the Jewish organisation (which name I forget - it was late last night) in order to try and track down what happened.
Cut a long story short, he found he had a younger brother who took him on a guided tour of the family's old stomping ground (Bethnal Green/Hackney, etc). His mother had died by then and he never really got to find out why he had been given away although it was confirmed by an older friend/family member that his mother had never spoken of it and it had been a secret all that time.
At the end of the programme he never did discover in quite what circumstances he ended up in Wales although he did find his brother and brother's family and they appeared to be very close.
Just glad that they found each other - happy ending to a sad start.
Why they don't show this on 'normal' BBC as well I don't know - much better than some of the **** that's on most of the time!
Helen
p.s. next week is a family from Ohio tracing their Scottish roots ! Should be interesting - might have to set the video for that one though.
