The internet has helped a Bristol man be reunited with almost 30 members of his family for the first time in 60 years.

Mike Parfitt, 60, was put up for adoption in 1941 by his mother Dorothy Price shortly after he was born.

Last week he hosted a party at his Wells Road home in Radstock for his family and his newly-discovered relatives.

He said: "One moment I had no nephews and nieces and now I've got 30 - it's amazing."

Mr Parfitt, who runs a removals firm, believes his birth mother must have felt compelled to give away her child for adoption because she was an unmarried mother.

He was told he was adopted at 15 but he did not try to trace his mother until he became a grandfather.

His daughter Vickie found a birth certificate with an address in Gloucester. "The kids then took over - they even wrote to Cilla Black." he said.

They found 15 Dorothy Mary Prices in the Gloucester area and phoned them all, but without luck. It appeared his mother had moved in 1946.

Then, last year, Mr Parfitt bought a computer and found a website dedicated to searching for relatives. As a result, he discovered his mother's married surname was May and that she had died in 1992.

The information was sent by her daughter Gloria, who lives in Newcastle, and Mr Parfitt also discovered he had five more half sisters.

Used courtesy of the Bristol Evening Post