The youngest sister of a family of seven separated at childhood has put out a birthday appeal for the last of the siblings to come forward.

Kay Hodson has been on a two-year hunt for her brothers and sisters and this week was hoping the last remaining piece of her family jigsaw would get in touch.

Elder sister Sandra Hilda Basham was born on April 24 1946 but despite sharing the same mother, Mrs Hodson has never met her.

Mrs Hodson, 52, of Clayton, Bradford, said: "My elder brother, Kenneth Van Den Pauwert first tried to find us all a few years ago.

"He had been adopted by a Dutch family and I've been told he just wanted to discover why this had happened.

"But he died about three years ago, before he knew about any of us. Then his daughter carried on the research and about two years ago she sent me a letter."

Aside from Kenneth, Sandra and Mrs Hodson there are two more brothers, one who lives in Bradford, and two other sisters.

They all share the same mother, Florence Lucy Bynon who married twice, once changing her name to Basham and then to Burrows in 1948 after marrying Mrs Hodson's father.

Mrs Hodson, who works at a restaurant in Queensbury, said: "It was a very emotional time when we all got together, and took a while to figure out all the dates.

"I put together a family tree so we all knew where stood."

A genealogist she enlisted to help with her search turned up Sandra's birth certificate last spring giving her place of birth as Bradford.

Mrs Hodson added: "It would be amazing if we were to find Sandra this week. It's been a very long search and we all really want to find her."

Anyone with information on Sandra Basham can call Mrs Hodson on (01274) 413728.