Jacqueline Hacker, left and sister Denise LymnTWO sisters who were separated as babies have been re-united after 53 years.

Jacqueline Hacker, who lives in Oare, had been trying for some 25 years to find her long-lost sibling, who was adopted as a baby.

Now, after an emotional re-union, with her sister Denise Lymn, who lives in Walsall, Staffordshire, Mrs Hacker said: "I had mixed emotions.

"I was in tears. I couldn't believe it after all these years. It was like a miracle."

Mrs Hacker said: "Denise has always been on my mind. Every birthday, I would buy her a little card and some flowers to remember her.

"About 25 years ago I decided to try to trace her and wrote a letter to social services, the Salvation Army and all sorts of organisations that trace relatives."

She even wrote to Cilla Black on her Surprise, Surprise TV show that aims to reunite families that have not seen each other for many years, but that drew a blank.

She said: "I never gave up, though. I always knew some day that I would manage to catch up with her."

It was the letter she wrote to Social Services in 1981 that finally came up trumps.

It had lain on file for 23 years before finally being sent to Mrs Lymn in response to her own enquiries about her natural family.

A few weeks ago Mrs Hacker was given a number to ring. She said: "The woman at the other end read out my letter word for word and then said, I'm your sister, Denise.

The two women had a tearful reunion outside a restaurant in Tamworth, in Staffordshire, and began to catch up on all that had happened to them over the previous 53 years.

They have vowed never to be parted again and have arranged to visit each other in their homes regularly and to enjoy holidays together.

Mrs Hacker said: "We have so much in common. For a start, both our husbands are called Dave and we're both big Cliff Richard fans."

They are both grandmothers and Mrs Hacker has six grandchildren, four boys and two girls.

But one thing they don't have in common is a collection of ceramic pigs.

Mrs Hacker has an enviable collection because, when two Tamworth pigs escaped from a Malmesbury abattoir six years ago, they were dubbed the Tamworth Two.

She said: "Because all my friends in the village knew I came from Tamworth originally, they started to give me presents of little china pigs."