A HORWICH man's search for his long-lost mother has Stephen Akeroyd, aged 40, had not seen his mother June, since he was five-years-old when his parents separated and he went to live with his father and grandparents at Lytham.

But a telephone call two weeks ago finally tracked down June, now Mrs Langstreth, who has been living for 30 years in neighbouring Blackburn.

And last week mother and son came face to face when they met in a Blackburn pub for the first time in 35 years.

"I was a bit nervous standing outside the pub. It's quite hard meeting your mother after all these years because you have to get to know her again. But I knew her as soon as I saw her because she's very tall like me," said Stephen, who is 6ft 7ins while his mum is "a mere" 6ft 1in.

Mrs Langstreth said: "I would have known him if there had been a hundred people there. I think he's gorgeous. It was a fantastic day."

For years, landscape gardener Stephen, of Avonhead Close, believed his mother was somewhere in the Coventry area and was amazed to find that in all these years she has been virtually on the doorstep in Blackburn. Stephen began the hunt for his mother in 1980 when he sought the help of the Salvation Army without success. Then a friend from Astley Bridge offered to help him. Since then the search, which started in Warrington, has taken in Nuneaton and Nantwich in Cheshire, visits to local libraries and register offices, and scanning electoral roles. One of the obstacles was that Stephen was looking for June Akeroyd, unaware her surname had changed.

Then two weeks ago his girlfriend Debbie ended up with four telephone numbers and one of them turned out to be Mrs Langstreth's.

"I rang the number and at first I got an answering machine. Then I rang again and spoke to her and said I was her son," said Stephen.

"At first I thought he had the wrong number but then he said his name. I just said 'Oh my God', and dropped the phone. I was overwhelmed," added Mrs Langstreth, now a widow.

But Mrs Langstreth is well used to having shocks sprung on her. Five years ago she received a letter from her younger sister Christine, who until then, hadn't even known of her existence.

Stephen was also surprised to discover that he has two younger sisters, Michelle and Tracy and a host of nephews and nieces who he is looking forward to meeting. His mum also learned that she had two additional grandchildren - Stephen's children Simon, aged 16, and Lindsay, aged 14.

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