FOSTERED from the age of two, ex-miner Tom Yelland had always yearned to trace his natural parents. And now, after years of exhaustive detective work, taking in countless frustrating false trails, 48-year-old Tom has put together the final piece in his family jigsaw.

To to his astonishment, he now discovers that, as well as having two natural sisters in Liverpool, he also has no fewer than 11 step-brothers and step-sisters scattered around the North.

Tom's mother, who re-married after the break-up with his father, is now in her mid-60s and living in Rochdale. He eventually located her after learning that he'd been born close by, at Milnrow, in July, 1951.

But his wartime soldier dad, Sergeant Thomas Terence Dixon of the Cameronian Highlanders, had died in Derbyshire in 1988, aged 62.

And (perhaps the most incredible fact to emerge) Tom has now discovered that his St Helens-born father's ashes were then scattered between the goalposts at Saints' ground, his dying wish. Tom's terraced home stands in Doulton Street, well within cheering distance of the Knowsley Road pitch!

Tom, whose surname was changed from Dixon to Yelland after being fostered in 1953 by a middle-aged Prescot sub-postmaster, Richard Yelland, and his teacher wife, Jessie (both now dead) can hardly take in all this newly-acquired information.

He was put fully into the picture when, after drawing blanks throughout Lancashire, he began to systematically comb through all the Dixons listed in Derbyshire telephone directories.

Amazingly, Tom eventually made contact with a half-brother he never knew existed - and the long quest was finally over.

"I'd spent many years and a considerable amount of money in looking for my natural father," says Tom, "only to find out that his final resting place was on the Saints ground, just a couple of hundred yards up the road."

And there was yet another huge surprise in store. Tom was staggered to learn that he is one of a total of 14 children produced by his parents, both of whom entered into fresh, family-building relationships after the collapse of their marriage.

It was the conclusion to a search which had taken Tom to places including Preston, Blackpool, Rochdale and Oldham, checking out electoral rolls and knocking on countless doors.

Tom, now the father of three grown-up sons - Richard (24), Stuart (23) and Martyn (20) - and also blessed with a two-year-old grandson, Jack, was helped and encouraged to seek out his family roots by his wife. "She's proved a rock throughout all the trials and tribulations," he says with obvious affection.

In 1972, Tom met Ann Rogerson, from Crowther Street, just a stone's throw away from where the couple now live. They married two years later.

Tom hasn't enjoyed the easiest of lives, though he remains eternally grateful to the Yellands who not only bestowed their surname on him, but also treated him like a natural son.

A talented footballer in his late teens, he was, at that stage, a bit of a loner and a rebel, in sharp contrast to his sunny, optimistic disposition now. He partly blames this youthful blip for failure to make the soccer big time, despite being sent for trials with Preston and Blackburn.

When the pits shut down, Tom, who had worked at a cluster of coalmines throughout the area, found himself jobless. He has since undergone a series of operations on damaged elbow joints, keeping him unemployed ever since.

"But I reckon that I'm a lucky man," he smiles. "Unlike my parents, I entered into a happy, stable marriage, and now have a loving family around me."

He has a simple explanation for what drove him to search so desperately for family roots. "Anyone who hasn't had the misfortune of being put into care as a baby might not fully understand this, but I just had to know what I was all about."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.