MISSING pages from a historic family album charting the building of an historic pier have been reunited with the original after travelling half way round the world.

The leather-bound album, compiled by the family of engineer Henry Hay Wake, records the construction of Sunderland’s Roker Pier.

Last century, half of the pages were cut out of the album and travelled first to Trinidad, then Zimbabwe and South Africa with the engineer’s granddaughter Verna, before finally her daughter Carol Spencer took them with her when she moved to Australia.

The other pages stayed behind in England with another of Henry's granddaughters and are now in the archives of the River Wear Commissioners.

Today (WED) the two were reunited when Carmen Higgs, great-great-granddaughter of Henry Hay Wake travelled from her home in Australia to Sunderland for the dedication of a plaque marking the restoration of the lighthouse following a £2.15m restoration of the pier.

She said: "When I started researching my family history ten years ago, I never dreamed I would one day be able to walk the same paths that my ancestors did, nor that I would even see Roker Pier.

"During my visit last year I discovered that the album in the archives was missing pages and I realised that my aunt Carol Spencer had the missing pages and had been unaware that they belonged to an album.

“After explaining this to her, she kindly agreed to donate the missing pages to the archives to be reunited with the album, so that the history of Roker Pier and the Wakes may be preserved.

Welcoming the donation, Cllr Mel Speding, of Sunderland City Council, said: “It's wonderful to think that after all those years apart, the missing pages from this historic album are to be reunited with the original”.

He added: "We still have a little way to go before we can fully re-open the pier to the public, but we're now at the stage where completion is in sight."