The Lake clan staged a "cousins" reunion at Newborough Village Hall last week and some hardy relatives even made the trip across the pond.

And having flown in from Michigan, the American cousins could even claim to be the "Great" Lakes, as their US state home borders the famous waterways of Canada.

More than 24 cousins turned up along with various husbands, wives and children, to swap treasured memories and talk about old times.

The reunion was the brainchild of Carole Dunnett and Frances Kendall, who brought along a scanner so pictures could be copied and swapped.

Mrs Dunnett, from Werrington, said: "It went really well. Seeing people recognise photographs they had never seen before was brilliant. It was liltte things like that, that made the day. People getting to take away little treasures and a bit of history."

The Lake family had worked on the land for many years in the Newborough area before they all branched out.

Mrs Dunnett said: "A lot of the family did not have many photographs as they were farm workers and did not own a camera.

"Our Aunt Connie told us that though they did not have much money, but they never went without food. Hand-me-downs were commonplace and footwear was often a problem, but they were fine."

The part-completed family tree already takes up a whopping 289 sheets of A4, with just immediate families included.

The gathered family tucked into a buffet, with cake and wine while they rolled back the years, and each cousin went away with cards about the family.

Ron Titman said: "It went really well. We had a buffet and everyone took along family photographs to share.

"At our age it seems to be just funerals or maybe weddings when we meet up, so it was great to be able to find a different reason to have a catch up.

"Most people don't have big families like they used to, so we know we are a little bit unusual."

The Lake family's vastness comes from the fact their grandparents had 12 children, and the remaining child of the dozen, Connie Lake, at 87 years of age, was among the gathering.

There were surprises in store and hardly a dry eye in the house when previously unseen photographs were gazed on for the first time.

Three of the cousins had never actually seen a picture of their parents wedding taken 60 ago and another branch did not even recognise a picture of their mother, which had been taken when she worked on the land.