A POULTON mum took up poetry to thank her adopted Australian daughter for 30 years of love.

Val Arnold, of Roylen Avenue, had been desperate for a child when, in the 1960s, she went out to Australia with her husband on a two-year contract for British Aerospace.

"I'd already found out I couldn't have children of my own," said Mrs Arnold. "We thought we'd have to wait till we got back to England to adopt. But within six months of making inquiries we were told we could have a little girl.

"She was six weeks old and her parents were only 16, both students, and were not allowed to keep her.

"She was beautiful, we named her Julie and brought her back to England. Now she's 30, she got married in Barbados last year, and lives in Lancaster.

"Though my original marriage broke up and I've suffered ill-health, she's always been there for me. We're closer than ever now, she means so much to me. I don't know how sometimes she's put up with me, but she has a heart as big as a bucket."

Julie, who lives at Scale Hall Farm, near Lancaster, is married to professional football referee Colin Bascombe, while Val too has found happiness in her re-marriage, to singer John Arnold who performs with Thornton Cleveleys Brass Band.

Val, 56, has had to give up work as a medical receptionist due to carpal tunnel syndrome, but that has not stopped her taking up her pen: "I wanted to find a way of saying thank you and I love you, in some special way as I wrote these words."

And this is the poem Val, pictured with Julie, wrote:

MY LITTLE AUSSIE

I wanted one so much it almost broke my heart,

I needed one so much I nearly fell apart,

I yearned for one so much, it filled each night, each day,

I prayed for one so much, but one never came my way.

If only I was blessed with one, it would take away the pain,

If only I was blessed with one, I would never want again.

My dreams of finding one took me 12,000 miles

To a land where I was greeted with warm and sunny smiles.

Yes! You're right, I found one and it brought me so much joy,

I feel just like a child again who has a brand new toy.

I could not carry one myself, so who would set me free?

Some kind stranger in that distant land heard my desperate plea.

I closed my eyes and held my breath and suddenly I saw

This tiny bundle in a cot behind a magic door!

There she was, so beautiful, so tiny and so fine,

My soon-adopted daughter - at last! at last! she's mine.

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