Anne Carter met with her old friends at the Grand Junction Arms pub in Acton Lane

Happy memories were revived on Saturday when a special guest from down under arrived at a community reunion in Harlesden.

Around 35 people gathered at the Grand Junction Arms in Acton Lane,to welcome former neighbour Anne Carter from Sydney, Australia.

Mrs Carter, 70, has spent the past five weeks touring the UK with her partner Jack Weaver and it is only her second visit here in 46 years.

Her friend, Barry Haynes, who Anne knew from her days at Lower Place in Park Royal, said the occasion ‘went very well’ and Mrs Carter ‘had a great time.’

“It made her trip worthwhile and she saw everyone she wanted to see,” he added.

Speaking before the reunion, Mrs Carter said she could not wait for it to take place.

Recalling her life at Corby Road in Harlesden, where she was born and bred, she said: “It’s a tight knit community, like a family.

“I have never known a community like it in the world.

“It’s lovely to still know people.

“Its bad to wish your holidays away but it will be the highlight.

“I’m so excited to see all my mates.”

Mrs carter initially left London for Australia in 1967 with husband Michael Taylor and two young sons.

But tragedy struck when Mr Taylor was diagnosed with melanoma – a form of skin cancer - just four months after their arrival in Australia.

He died in 1971 when the couple’s third child – a daughter – was just five weeks old.

Mrs Carter was repatriated to the UK but could not settle and after 10 months she returned to Australia where she eventually remarried and had another daughter.

She added: “This is going to be my last trip.

“There are so many people I am in touch with on Facebook

“We are getting older and the purse strings tighten.”