It's as though we've never been apart

PEOPLE walking near a branch of Marks and Spencer in London last Sunday were startled when two women suddenly started hugging and crying.

But for Linda Parry and daughter Lucy MacNamara it was the meeting both had been longing for.

Despite the obvious emotion, they were immediately comfortable with each other.

"It is as though we have never been apart," both told me, separately, glowing with happiness.

Since that day, there has been a lot of reminiscing and catching up - and a lot of late nights.

Linda and Lucy had tried to track each other down in the past - both even contacted the same television show but it failed to match them up. And it was only when Lucy contacted the Argus that there was finally a happy ending to their tale.

Linda's story begins when she was just 15 years old. Her good looks took her from Pontypool to London after a local photographer sent portrait shots of her to a modelling studio in Finsbury Park.

"They asked me if I could come up and gave me a contract. I told them I was 17. It was so exciting," says Linda, now aged 51, sitting in her home in Pontypool.

"I was nervous but they found me a bedsit in Muswell Hill for £5 a week and I was paid 30 guineas a week."

Linda, whose name had been changed to Stevie Peters by her agency, was only 16 and working as a go-go dancer in a club when she met Magee MacNamara, a talented Australian musician, who was top of the club's entertainment bill.

She says: "He seemed very glamorous. He was 12 years older than me although he didn't know it - everyone thought I was 19."

She fell in love and moved into his Chelsea home, right in the heart of swinging London and she soon discovered she was pregnant.

"I was nervous, but we were very happy," she says.

Lucy was born shortly after Linda turned 17, but her relationship with Magee broke down following a visit back home to Pontypool. When she returned, she was told Magee had been unfaithful.

She now realises it probably was not the truth - but then, young and impetuous, the devastated young mum left taking Lucy with her.

For some time Lucy divided her time between her parents. Linda, who was continuing to work as a go-go dancer to support them, frankly states that she wasn't a good mother: "I loved her but I wanted my own life as well,"

But Lucy immediately jumps to her defence, saying: "I only have happy memories. I had a great childhood."

Linda says Magee was a doting dad. "He loved Lucy and I couldn't wish for a better father for her," she says. When their daughter was ten, Magee, who was then married, suggested that Lucy should move to Australia.

LInda says: "He said it would be a lovely opportunity for her, that there was nothing in the UK."

Linda, who had also married, agonised over her decision but eventually agreed it would be a better life for Lucy and she left to live with the grandparents she had never met.

Lucy, now 33, says: "I was excited although I didn't want to leave mum and that was really difficult for me but I was told she would be coming out to see me."

Linda did visit her in Sydney on her 11th birthday - and that was the last time they saw each other until last Sunday. Lucy eventually moved to Bondi Beach to live with her dad and stepmum.

Linda says: "She was having a great life over there, how could I ask her to come back? At the end of the day I did it because I loved her. I thought if I tried to pull her away from that she was going to hate me for the rest of her life."

They kept in touch by writing, and the occasional telephone calls, for a few more years but Lucy suddenly stopped.

She had not seen her mother for so long and was confused and angry. Now she can see there may also have been another factor in her decision.

Her mum had written to tell her she was expecting another child. "Looking back I probably was jealous, although I wouldn't have admitted it at the time," Lucy says.

Linda continued to write but Lucy moved around Australia and all contact was eventually severed.

When she was pregnant with Ben, now a talented young rugby player, Linda returned to her home town and her old name.

But, although devoted to her son, she longed to find her daughter. "I had this empty hole in my life. I would watch reunion shows on the television and I would be sobbing," she says.

Little did Linda know that her daughter was feeling exactly the same way.

Both tried various avenues to try to find each other but without success, although they came close unknowingly. In 1998, Linda told her story to a national magazine and was later contacted by a daytime TV chat show.

She gave them all her details although she never appeared on the show. When Lucy returned to Britain last year she again tried to find her mum and contacted the same show to ask if they could help - but was told there was nothing on their computer.

Her desire to find her mother was given new impetus by the suddent and tragic death of her fianc Andrew in Australia last year. He owned his own bricklaying business and was shot three times and left for dead after being mugged.

Lucy was given the devastating news the following morning and still has his last loving message to her which was left on her mobile phone just before his violent death. It said: "Love you, babe".

Grief-stricken, she returned to London where her father was now living and he has supported her desire to find her mum.

She admits that writing to the Argus was her "last resort" but had no idea it would end their search and bring them back together so quickly. The story ran in last Saturday's edition, she spoke to Linda that night and they met up the next day.

They have been amazed at the similarities between them and Lucy was delighted to meet her half-brother Ben for the first time.

The only tinge of sadness was that Linda's mum was not there to see her granddaughter again.

Linda says: "My mum died two years ago and all she wanted was to see Lucy again."

Lucy has to return to London soon but she and her mum are determined never to lose touch again.

She also has one important thing to do before she goes back.

She says: "Ben is playing for Newport Gwent Dragons (under-18s) on Sunday and I'm going to watch him. I'm very proud of him."