A FAMILY torn apart in 1955 has been reunited with the help of the Bury Times.

The Ramsbottom-born Russell siblings were brought together in an emotional reunion at the Rose and Crown Pub in Ramsbottom.

A cake bearing the inscription "For now and forever, there will be no sadness anymore. No pain to cause us sorrow. Instead we can look forward to a bright new world tomorrow", summed up the feelings of the four brothers and two sisters who had not seen each other for nearly 46 years.

The struggle to reunite the family was started by Mrs Margaret Plummer who now lives in Liverpool. She contacted the BT in August this year appealing for help in her desperate search.

Mrs Plummer said: "I had been trying to track down my family for a few months but kept coming up against a blank wall. It was not until I contacted the Bury Times that the ball started rolling. "The phone was ringing non-stop with information."

She added: "I really thought that it would be an impossible task to track down my family. Some were adopted and they could have been anywhere.

"I found out at the reunion that my brothers had been trying to trace me since 1973."

The grandmother-of-two was encouraged to track down her family by her two daughters, Gaynor and Suzanne, after they found out she had been brought up by a foster family.

Mrs Plummer explained: "One day they asked me why I had a different surname to my sister; it was then I explained that she was my foster sister and told them about my family.

"I also showed to them, for the first time, two photographs of my brothers I had always carried around with me since I was very small.

"I must admit I was a bit scared of trying to track down my family because you never know what you might find, but I thought it is family and it is worth giving it a go."

Now aged 63, Mrs Plummer, the third eldest, said she was six when she and her siblings, Hugh, Alice, James, John and Stephen were taken into care.

Her parents were Hugh and Margaret Russell, who lived on Union Street, which is now the site of the town centre Kwik Save. Mrs Plummer's father was a labourer and her mother worked in a cotton mill in Kenyon Street.

Mrs Plummer said: "From what I understand my mother fell ill and could not look after six children. I remember I was in school when two ladies came up to me and said I was going on holiday.

"That was the last time I saw my family."

She added: "I prayed everyday that I might see them all again."

John (56) is now living in Accrington, Stephen (52) is living in Barrow-in-Furness; Alice (60) is living in Nottingham, John is living in Todmorden and Hugh (65) still lives locally, in Knight Street, Bury.

Describing the moment she saw John for the first time in so many years, Mrs Plummer said: "I was gardening and this man walked up to my house and said 'I'm your brother John'. I couldn't believe it.

"Then at the reunion, I walked in to the Rose and Crown Pub and saw this man stood at the bar. I knew immediately it was James, I could tell by his eyes."

Mrs Plummer who celebrates her 64th birthday tomorrow, added: "This is the best birthday present ever. All my life I have never wanted for anything but always felt that something was missing.

"Now I feel complete."