Two sisters who have not seen each other for 27 years have been reunited.

Now Margaret Green wants to complete her family reunion by tracing the baby daughter she gave up for adoption before leaving England for a new life in Australia.

Margaret and her sister Lynda Hallett, of the Promenade, Peacehaven, were reunited last week after Lynda saved up to pay Margaret's fare from Pingelly, near Perth, in Australia.

Margaret said: "I was 15 when I got pregnant and was living with the father of the baby. But he denied the child was his and we split up.

"I had nobody else to help me. My parents said they would not help take care of my daughter and so I put her up for adoption a week after she was born.

"I worked for a few more years before trying to put the past behind me by moving to Australia."

Margaret met her husband, Vernon Green, in 1974 while working as a hotel cook. They married after a few months and had a son, Lee, two years later.

Margaret kept in touch with some members of her family by letter but gradually lost touch with Lynda.

The spur to their reunion was the death of their elder sister, Rita, in December 2000.

Margaret said: "My brother wrote to me that Rita had died of cancer.

"It was then that Lynda said she was going to make sure we all saw each other."

Lynda, 53, saved up to pay for Margaret's £497 plane ticket from Perth to London.

She said: "I haven't had any contact with Margaret for 15 years and I had no idea where she was.

"When our mum and dad died that broke the family up even more.

"When Rita died at home, suddenly I decided to see Margaret as soon as I could."

Lynda met Margaret at Gatwick last week for an emotional reunion.

She said: "As soon as I saw her little head, I could see my mum in her face and I knew it was my sister. I was absolutely overjoyed."

Now with her feet firmly on British soil, Margaret is enjoying a six-week break.

She celebrated her 50th birthday on Friday and a party was planned for yesterday with brothers Martin, 63, Colin, 62, and John, 51.

Margaret also hopes to start tracking down the daughter she gave up for adoption, registered as Teresa Louise Hallett, born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent in 1968.

She said: "While I'm here I'm going to try to find out whether she has put her name down to find me.

"I would love to find her."