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Halifax man finds long-lost dad in Spanish bar he had entered for directions
A man on honeymoon with his wife was amazed to find his long-lost dad 25 years after he last saw him in a quiet Spanish bar he had gone into to ask for directions.
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Manuel Benages, 29, enjoyed the fairytale reunion after combining his honeymoon with the search for his dad.
He went on a quest through three Spanish towns in search of his dad, Antonio, who left the family home in 1984 to do military service in his homeland.
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But he was only armed with a 25-year-old photo and had given up the search after a series of dead ends when he stumbled across his father in the small town of Lleida.
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Shellshocked Manuel had always harboured a hope of seeing his dad again one day and was inspired to search after his brother, Jonathan, 23, died suddenly in his sleep in November last year.
But he got nothing but blank looks in Barcelona, where his family hails from, and was led inland to two small towns before finally finding Antonio by chance.
Manuel said: "When I went in I thought 'you never know' so decided to get the picture out again to see if they knew anything. My wife said I was just torturing myself but I had to try.
"The barman shook his head and I turned to walk away but my wife said my father's name and I just heard him call me back, saying 'si, si' and pointing to this man who was at the bar on his own.
"I was shaking and praying it wasn't false hope. I showed him the picture and he looked at me blankly but then I pointed to myself and said 'Manuel' and he jumped up saying 'my son' and everyone started clapping at the bar.
"Up until that point, everyone in the bar had been hostile but then they started buying us drinks, cheering, shaking our hands and hugging us."
Antonio, 53, who worked as a factory hand in Halifax, lived with his three children while Manuel's mother Jean Briggs, 51, was pregnant with their fourth when he was called up by his country.
But Antonio had lost contact with Jean after he left for Spain and the only clue Manuel had about his whereabouts was that he had family in Barcelona.
Delighted Manuel, who lives with wife Kelly, 28, and daughter Alandra, three, said: "The last memory I had of my dad was being in my grandmother's kitchen on the day he left.
"I had always said I wanted to find him again so I hired a private detective to try and get any information about him that I could but they came back with nothing.
"My wife and I had got married in September 2008 but after my brother died we didn't have any time to have a proper honeymoon.
"I had always wanted to go to Barcelona anyway and I thought I would see if I could track him down while I was there as well, so we combined the honeymoon and my search."
Manuel, who cannot speak Spanish, jetted off to Barcelona on September 13 this year for four days clutching the old photo from a family album.
He asked passers-by on the street about his father but no-one knew him and it was only when he went to a police station that he was informed he didn't live in the city.
The next day the couple made the 90-mile journey to a rough inland city called Balaguer, which Manuel's mother had talked about when he was younger, but discovered Antonio had left for Lleida, another 18 miles away.
On their arrival there, a local police officer in the hostile city told them they had made a wasted journey and that Antonio now lived in Barcelona. Nobody in the town spoke English so they got a tramp to ask some people for them but once again had no joy.
The couple returned to their hotel and set off to try and console themselves with a nice meal and walked into the bar to ask for directions, leading to the life-changing reunion.
Antonio said he had written letters but, because they had moved home several times since he left, they had not been received so he assumed they were happy in a new life.
They parted ways at the end of Manuel's trip but last week Antonio returned to Halifax, and he has now been reunited with his astonished children.
Manuel, who has three siblings, Antonio, 30, Anna-Maria, 28, and Gina-Louise, 27, as well as stepborther Michael, 22, who has also met Antonio, said: "He's meeting all his grandchildren and his English is slowly coming back to him. It feels like I have known him all my life.
"I don't know what we are going to do in the future now I've finally found him but I am definitely not going to lose contact after all of this."
Overwhelmed Antonio said: "There is a whole family here I never knew I had - I have met seven grandchildren in England. It is beautiful what has happened and I am very happy."
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
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