THIS is the picture of happiness Alan and Christine Whittle waited 15 years to see.

And their joy at being with the son they never thought they could have is so plain for everyone to see that the picture won prizes in a national competition to find the perfect family photograph.

Forklift truck driver Alan, 49, has three children from a previous relationship -- Lyndsay, 29, Adrienne, 25 and Adam, 23 -- but Christine, 37, and Alan found they could not have children together.

Christine, a home care worker, said: "Alan's children have always been a part of our family and we are all close, but I never thought I would be a mother myself."

After four attempts at IVF treatment at a private clinic, Christine became pregnant and Jack was born two years ago -- but they didn't get round to taking a family photograph.

Christine, of Ribchester Road, Wilpshire, Blackburn, said: "It was only when I saw the competition that I realised we didn't have any pictures of us all together.

"A relative took this at Christmas but Jack had been off-colour all day and when I saw it I thought it was awful. But it was the only one I had, so I just sent it in. I never thought I would win." In her letter to the judges, Christine wrote: "The picture just says family, a family I did not think we would have. After all the years of heartache, I now have true happiness."

John Parton, Beechams Veno's manager, said: "We are delighted for Christine and her family. We thought her photograph, and her description, matched the values we were looking for in a perfect family photo."

Judges in the Beechams Veno's competition were touched when Christine Whittle, 37, wrote that the snap showed the tot she had waited 13 years for. Judges in the Beechams Veno's competition awarded her the prize of a professional portrait by a Blackburn photographer. She's now a finalist for the top prize -- a chance to win a studio session with famous photographer Lord Lichfield.