IMAGINE meeting your two sisters for the first time at the age of 68 and discovering you shared a father you thought died in the Second World War.

Anthony Southwood, of Ringland, began looking into his family history after finding out information about his grandfather, Charles Benians, who was a lock-keeper in Pontnewydd.

After doing some research on the internet, he discovered that his father, Joseph Percival 'Percy' Southwood, had relocated to Swansea after the war without telling his family, who believed he had been killed in action.

"We all presumed he was dead, after looking on the computer I was sent a birth and death certificate and showed that he had remarried - I asked if they made a mistake," said Mr Southwood.

After starting a new family in Swansea, Percy had three children, one of whom died at a young age.

When he received his father's death certificate and discovered he was buried in Swansea, Mr Southwood and his wife Vicky went to pay their respects, leaving a pot of flowers and attached a note with Mr Southwood's contact number on.

"I had my note and my phone number, I said 'It's a chance in a million,'" said Mr Southwood.

He received a call a few weeks later from Richard Southwood, Percy's grandson, thanking him for leaving flowers on his grandfather's grave, which prompted Mr Southwood to realise he had sisters he never even knew existed.

He then got in touch with his two sisters, Mavis Southwood and Maureen Blake, and met them for the first time at the weekend.

Mr Southwood said: "I only remember waving goodbye to him on the train when I was four or five, I wouldn't know him if he walked through.

I was a little bit upset at first, but it was great."

Mrs Blake, 56, who lives in Swansea, said: "I was in shock at first, we had a conversation - it was great."

Mr Southwood now says he and his two sisters will keep in touch and he has plans to pay them regular visits.