It was a fairytale reunion tinged with sadness. For after more than half a century apart, a brother and sister have been reunited at long last. But beneath the overjoyed smiles and hearty hugs was the knowledge that some of the Rogers family would never meet.

It was a fairytale reunion tinged with sadness.

For after more than half a century apart, a brother and sister have been reunited at long last.

But beneath the overjoyed smiles and hearty hugs was the knowledge that some of the Rogers family would never meet.

Ron Rogers, 79, from Reepham, and his sister Yvonne Moss, 71, had not seen each other for more than 54 years, after Mrs Moss emigrated to live with her American husband in Vermont.

She said: "I always wanted to come back and see him, or at least have a reunion some-where. Life got in the way though. I had five babies to bring up and a husband to look after.

"The time or the money was never there. I didn't want to leave my children with someone else and we were spending all our money on the children."

But after the death of Mr Roger's wife Kathleen, several months ago, the pair were spurred into action to meet, and arranged for Mrs Moss, her daughter Tammy Demar, 42, and granddaughter Jeni, 15, to visit.

On Wednesday afternoon after more than 30 hours of travelling, the family reunited in an emotional embrace at the airport.

Mrs Moss said: "I recognised him immediately. I'd never forget the look of him. It's been very emotional. We're all exhausted and to finally meet up with him again is fantastic.

"We want to see all the other family members dotted about the country and my grand-daughter, Jeni, is determined to go to Paris for the day."

Mr Rogers and Mrs Moss are the only two surviving Rogers siblings out of five, and while no date has been set for an official party, once the three generations of travellers have recovered from jet-lag, an evening for them to meet aunties, uncles, in-laws, cousins, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be arranged.

Mrs Demar said: "I can't wait to meet everyone and find out more about my roots, where I come from. We're planning to travel around Britain as well, visiting more family members in Clacton, Hertfordshire, Wales and Scotland."

Mr Rogers said: "There has been a lot of death in this family recently, my sister has lost her husband and two sons in three years, and I've lost my wife.

"It's been a really hard, draining time but this is a very big positive to come out of it."