A HUDDERSFIELD woman was reunited with the dad she never knew - in time for Father's Day.
Terry Hutchinson was just a very vague memory to Angie Thomas, 32, a mum-of-five, until she tracked him down a month ago, with help from the internet.
Angie, of Primrose Hill, always knew she had a different father from her three siblings - but she knew nothing about him except his name.
But a few hours surfing on a home computer bought as a present put her in touch with her dad's family.
Now she has a new life to look forward to with her father - and her five young children are enjoying sharing things with their new grandfather.
'He's so like me with his character and sense of humour' >>
'He's so like me with his character and sense of humour'
THE reunion for Angie Thomas and her father ended a 27-year gap.
Her mother and Terry Hutchinson were married but split when Angie was young.
Mum remarried and Angie, then five, regarded her stepfather as a dad.
She'd never tried to find her natural father, partly for fear of upsetting her family.
But they have been supportive - and now, thanks to a website, Angie, a full-time mum, and her dad have been reunited.
Angie was given a computer by her mum a month ago.
She had been surfing for only a week when she discovered the Friends Reunited website.
She spotted a link to a site for family trees, called Genes Reunited.
Angie said: "I tried all my family's names and I thought why not put Hutchinson in.
"So I posted a message asking for information about a Terry Hutchinson, from Bramley in Leeds, aged about 60."
Angie had only seen her dad once in a working men's club in Leeds.
She was 15 and thought he looked familiar.
She said: "My friend said he was a family friend she called Uncle Terry and she said his name was Hutchinson.
"I knew I had seen my dad and I ran, because I was just a kid."
Father and daughter's paths crossed several times after that, without either of them knowing at the time.
Angie worked as a chef in a pub her father frequented and they had lived just streets away from one another in Leeds.
After she left her details on Genes Reunited Angie got two messages from Jean Hutchinson, her father's sister-in-law.
Angie, who moved to Huddersfield four years ago, said: "She wanted more details, so I gave them and they all fitted. We spoke for two hours on the phone and that night my dad rang."
Three weeks later, Angie and her husband Richard, 28, a forklift truck driver, travelled to Leeds to met her dad for Sunday lunch.
She said: "I was so nervous beforehand, but once I met him it was so easy to speak."
Angie discovered Terry, 61, had married again - and she now has three new sisters and a 10-year-old brother.
Angie said: "We all get on really well. We have seen quite a bit of each other.
"My family have been very supportive. My children think it's amazing. They are really excited to have a new grandad and nanny and all these new cousins."
Angie's children are Esther, 11, Jonathan, 9, Charlotte, 9, Matthew, 6 and Caitlin, 2.
Terry, a taxi driver, is currently on holiday at Primrose Valley in East Yorkshire with Angie's two eldest children.
She said: "Now was the right time. I didn't know what would happen and if he had rejected me, I could cope but years ago I might not have been able to."
