AN EAST Lancashire pensioner has had an emotional meeting with a half-sister he has only just discovered.

Colin Dyson met his half-sister Sheila Burke last week after the pair discovered they were related.

The 69-year-old from Colne has spent the week showing his sister around the area, and yesterday four generations of the Dyson family got together to meet the new addition to the family.

An emotional Colin said he wished his brother had still been alive to join in the celebrations. He said when the pair met it was like they already knew each other. "When we met it felt like she had seen me before. You can tell she is a Dyson, she has the same nose."

For the past week, the couple have been getting to know each other better while seeing the sites of East Lancashire.

A tearful Sheila ,who lives in Gran Canaria, said she found out about Colin when attending a family funeral. She contacted the international operator for the telephone numbers of Dysons in Colne.

She said after a little uncertainty as whether to try to make contact, she got in touch with their cousin Ken, who told Colin.

Sheila, 55, said: "When I found out I was absolutely shocked. We spoke to each other on the phone and sent photos and I built up a picture of what people were like.

"When we met it was exactly the same as I had imagined. I did not feel uncomfortable at all. This week has been fantastic. I have not been to a mill town before, and the countryside is beautiful, especially Wycoller."

Colin, who lives in Harrison Drive, and is married with two children, had not seen his father since he was four, when the joiner left to find work in London in the 1930s.

He and his brother tried to trace him a few years ago but could find no record of him.

Now they have met, the brother and sister plan to keep in contact and Sheila, who owns a fruit farm and holiday home business, wants to make another visit when she saves up.

Colin added: "Sheila is going back today and they will probably be a few tears at the airport. It is a wonderful thing, especially at my time of life."