We still get on after 60 years (From Swindon Advertiser)

We still get on after 60 years

10:00am Tuesday 31st January 2012 in News

A ROCK star has been reunited with his long-lost cousin after 60 years, thanks to an appeal in the Adver.

T-Rex drummer Paul Fenton recognised Beverly Kershaw, who prefers to be known as Mark, instantly as they met before the band’s gig at MECA on Saturday.

The pair greeted each other with a hug as Mark’s daughters and wife looked on.

Paul, who is from Yorkshire, said: “It’s a great thrill, I recognised his face straight away, even though I didn’t keep any photographs and we must have been all of seven when we last saw each other.

“There are lots of reasons why I wanted to get in touch. There was no way I was going to come to Swindon without trying to get in touch with my cousin Mark.”

Mark’s daughters Hannah, from Swindon, and Gemma, from Royal Wootton Bassett, and wife Rosemary were also there for the reunion, along with Paul’s partner Helen Dent.

By chance, the reunion happened on the same day Mark’s family attended his mother Barbara’s funeral.

And Rosemary, who had researched the family history, discovered that Sarah Purse, who died in 1885 and whose name was adapted by locals for the Sally Pussey Inn in Royal Wootton Bassett, was a distant ancestor.

Mark said: “My mother, Paul’s aunty, died before Christmas and we came to Swindon for her funeral.

“Then we had the Sally Pussey connection.

“It’s very odd to have a funeral in the morning, the Sally Pussey connection in the day, and then a reunion in the evening. It’s strange how things work out.

“I haven’t lived in Swindon for a long time but it all fell into place – it’s very interesting.”

Paul, 66, says he believes his musical gene came from Mark’s side of the family – though his cousin jokes it must have skipped a generation.

Mark, 65, lived in Kent Road, Old Town, and worked for Swindon Council at the Civic Offices before training to become a teacher.

He left Swindon at 22 and became a lecturer at Worcester College of Technology and the University of Worcester.

Paul’s uncle, Tim Kershaw, moved to Swindon in the 1940s and the family he left behind in Yorkshire did not see them again because of the cost and transport difficulties.

Paul appealed via the Adver on Mark’s whereabouts.

His long-lost relative got in touch after a friend saw the story.