Please help us find dad's family

Robin Peter was only two weeks old when he was found abandoned. He spent time in children’s homes before he was adopted.

Although he had wondered often about his background, it was only last year that a breakthrough was made when DNA testing led to a second or third cousin in the United States.

Contact with her resulted in Robin getting information that relatives lived in Bothwell, Uddingston and possibly Bellshill. Now Robin’s daughter Lorraine Ball is appealing for anyone who might have known his parents to get in touch.

He was given the name Robin Peter because he was found outside the Peter Robinson department store in London’s Oxford Street during the Second World War. It’s thought his family’s name was McKenna and the names McAllister and McLaughlin have also proven significant in the search to uncover his background.

Robin was born in 1943 and Lorraine believes his mum was in Bothwell at the time of, or just before, his birth. How he ended up abandoned in London is a mystery.

She said: “Dad has always wanted to find out more and I was searching for years, but it was only when he underwent DNA tests last year which matched him with the relative in the United States that we started to make progress.

“It would be nice to find out even a little more of his story.”

Robin and Lorraine, who lives in Lincolnshire, talked about their search with Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show.

They’re desperate to hear from anyone in this area who knows anything about Robin’s parents and Lorraine stressed no one should feel embarrassed about coming forward.

She said: “Dad has no ill feelings towards his mum. He realises it must have been terrible for her to give up a baby and has only sympathy for her.”

Anyone who thinks they can help is asked to e-mail Lorraine at [email protected].