Imagine reaching your 70s thinking you had no siblings, only to discover not one but three sisters longing to meet you.

That is what happened to Betty Bracey when she was finally tracked down by sisters Gwen Metcalfe, Pat Easton and Fran Sharp.

The four were separated as babies and toddlers, and it has taken more than seven decades to get the family back together.

Fran, of Plantation Close, Hothfield, told how the girls, aged between a few months and four, ended up in children’s homes and foster care after being left with a grandmother who could not cope with five youngsters.

She said: "We were all pushed from pillar to post. I was in a children’s home with Gwen for a while. I vividly remember crying and banging on a window when they took her away."

It wasn’t until she was in her 20s that great-grandmother Fran, who has three daughters, discovered she had more than one sibling.

It would seem destiny was determined to pull them back together. Originally from London, it was pure coincidence that saw Gwen, Pat and Fran all living in the Ashford area where Pat, who was trying to piece the family back together, managed to find the other two.

Fran said: "I had a knock on the door one day and these two chaps were standing there.

"They were Gwen and Pat’s husbands. When I saw Pat it was amazing, like looking in a mirror."

During the 1960s, Pat, Gwen, who is 71 and now lives in Kennington, and Betty also all lived less than two miles apart in north London – but their paths never crossed.

It was not until an unknown half-sister died and left a request in her will that her estate be split between any siblings she had who had not been adopted that any progress was made.

Pat, 69, from Little Chart, explained how she was contacted this year by a company called Finders who had tracked down Betty, now living in Preston, Lancashire: "I can’t describe how I felt. It was just like a miracle.

"She didn’t even know she had any sisters. You couldn’t make up a story like this."

As soon as contact was made the siblings could not wait to meet up, and last week that dream came true when Betty, 71, and her daughter Andrea travelled south for an emotional reunion with her family at The Croft Hotel in Ashford.

However, the happiness of finding Betty is also tinged with sadness as a fifth sister remains lost to the family.

Despite years of trying, Margaret, the eldest of the quintet, has never been tracked down.

Pat said: "We think she was living in Coventry, but she was adopted so we don’t even know what her name might be.

Fran, 72, said: "It would be so lovely to find her. Who knows, we’ve had one miracle, so who says we can’t have another?"

Can you help trace the fifth sister? She was registered in Paddington in 1942 and her birth name was Margaret Elizabeth Paitson. Call the newsdesk on 01233 623232 or email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk