EMOTIONAL Fred Chadwick had the surprise of a lifetime when he was reunited with the sister he had not seen for 50 years.

Mr Chadwick, 84, and his sister Violet Russell lost contact when she moved to Australia from Amersham with her family. But after years of separation, Mr Chadwick's children got together without him knowing to raise money for the pair to meet again.

Mr Chadwick, who lives in New Road, Amersham, shed tears of joy when he saw his sister walking down his garden path, last Friday.

He said: "I looked up and it was my sister and I said 'what the blazes are you doing here?'"

Mr Chadwick and his sister are the only two siblings left out of 13 brothers and sisters. He said that when they embraced they did not want to let go.

He added: "It was very moving, especially when the rest of your family have gone, and there is only the two of us left. To tell you the truth I never thought I would see her again.

"I was choked. She is so much like my mother. It was like my mother walking up the path."

The pair started speaking less than a year ago when Violet wrote to Fred after she found out his address from a niece.

Mrs Russell, 76, said: "He cried when he got the letter as he thought that he had lost me altogether."

She said one of the first things she noticed was that her brother had changed.

She said: "Fred used to be so tall, I used to ask him 'what is the weather like up there?' But he is so small now."

Mr Chadwick added: "She has got a bit stouter, but she is still just as cheeky. You will never alter her. We are all the same. We are Chadwicks."

His sister said that she feels lucky to see her family again but said she regrets one thing.

She said: "I feel very pleased we have met up but I would have loved my children to have met the family. But they are working and they don't have long holidays.

"My daughter Karen went on a three-month holiday in Australia and took tapes of all the places she went to on video. She did it for all the family to see and they were enthralled. There were a few tears shed. It was very emotional."

She added: "Fred is 85 this month and it is a long journey to Australia. Who knows I might be back. But we will be writing and keeping in touch."

And she added that there are no excuses now as Fred gave her a video camera to take back to Australia as a present.