A widow has been reunited with her long-lost brother after tracing him on her first connection to the internet.

Rene Blake, 73, lost touch with Eric McCauley 49 years ago when he emigrated to Australia with his young family.

They wrote to each other for a few years but contact dwindled until they no longer kept in touch.

Years passed without a word until Mrs Blake's husband Leslie died of a heart attack aged 74 during a two-week holiday in Greece.

Mrs Blake, from Langney, Eastbourne, said: "I suddenly felt all alone. My husband was my life but when he died I found myself extremely lonely.

"My daughter kept on at me to get back in touch with my brother.

"I didn't know how to go about it so she suggested the internet. I thought I had better give it a try before it was too late."

Mrs Blake popped into the Global Information Centre (GIC) in Old Orchard Road, Eastbourne, which offers public internet access.

Within hours of logging on to an internet people-search with GIC staff, Mrs Blake found Mr McCauley, now 78, was still in Australia and living in Adelaide.

When she returned home Mrs Blake, a retired assistant at the Palm Court Hotel for the blind in Burlington Place, Eastbourne, telephoned her brother.

She said: "I said 'Hello Eric, it's your sister here'. I had to repeat myself twice then he replied, 'Oh my God'.

"We chatted for ages before I arranged to fly over to meet him.

"As I stepped off the plane, the first thing I said was, 'You've shrunk a bit' and we both burst out laughing."

Since their reunion, they have phoned each other every week and have decided never to lose contact again.

Mrs Blake said: "At the end of the war, people went their own way.

"Eric moved to Australia while I came down to Eastbourne from Birmingham.

"As we didn't have telephones in those days, we just lost contact.

"Year after year would quickly pass and it sort of seemed less important to keep in touch. But now I've found him again, I'm never going to lose contact."

Now Mrs Blake is saving up for another visit Down Under with her younger sister Pearl, 65, who lives in Birmingham.

Lin Sirah, a director at the GIC in Eastbourne, said Mrs Blake's story was proof that people of virtually any age could use the internet to their advantage.

She added: "Rene was very tearful when we managed to find her brother.

"On her next visit she brought us in a bag of sweets. The internet is nothing to be scared of."