When Keith met Vanessa... through Spurs!

Take two Spurs fans, living just six miles apart in south-east London. They’ve never met before. Then, on a recruitment drive from South East Kent Spurs for members in the area, they recognise each other’s surname, Lewer, over correspondence. It’s a lightbulb moment for both of them...

Keith Lewer, 63, from Woolwich and Vanessa Lewer, 54, from Sidcup, both knew they had a half-sibling. Tottenham Hotspur, and specifically South East Thames Spurs (SETS), brought them together.

This is how it happened, in their words...

Keith: “Myself and Steve Button set-up SETS. We thought about how we’d advertise the club, so we posted it out there on Facebook and people started to respond.”

Vanessa: “An old friend of mine is a Spurs supporter and sent the link to this new club – South East Thames Spurs - to me and my daughter, who is a Season Ticket Holder. We clicked on the link as both of us wanted to be a part of it, but didn’t think too much more about it.”

Keith: “In the responses on Facebook, I saw Vanessa and her surname. It’s an unusual surname. I knew I had a half-sister, but had never met her, seen her, had any contact. I saw her name - we had to be related, didn’t we? I thought ‘I don’t know what to do about this’. I left it, then she contacted me, asked about my dad, and that was it. We chatted over text and one day, arranged to meet at her house.”

Vanessa: “I got a message from SETS on Facebook saying ‘we’d like to welcome Vanessa Lewer’ and it was from Keith Lewer, the chairman. I thought ‘that can’t be…’ my surname isn’t exactly common. I knew I had two half-brothers and four half-sisters. I was intrigued and couldn’t leave it so I had to ask. I looked at the photo of Keith on Facebook and thought ‘that’s my dad looking at me’. It was uncanny. It had to be... so after a number of messages back and forth, we finally met.”

Keith: “I was a touch apprehensive before our first meeting. You just never know, do you? But when I first saw her, she looked so much like my older sister. You could see that resemblance, and that took me back a bit. We had so much in common. We both supported Spurs, both animal lovers, both had the same type of dogs, just little things like that. We get on so well. We’ve been to a game, and we both went to the stadium to watch the screening of the Champions League Final. That common ground between us... I’ve probably spoken to her more now than with my other sisters!”

Vanessa: “I’d never had a brother or sister, but the minute Keith walked through the door, I wanted to give him a cuddle. It grew from there. I think he was initially only going to come around for a cup of tea, but we were together a few hours! From that moment, we clicked. We have so much in common, and we’re still learning things about each other. I’ve got four half-sisters, two of whom I’m now in touch with, which is great. He’s a huge part of my life now. I’m an only child, he’s part of a big family, I would have loved to have met him years ago. I cherish the fact that he’s about. We see each other at SETS events. He visits me. It’s lovely. It’s really surreal how we found each other, but it had to be through Spurs, at the end of the day.”

Keith: “I supported the Spurs when I was a little kid, four or five. My dad supported Arsenal, so it was to annoy him more than anything! It was Jimmy Greaves’ time, so that was me. The first game I went to was Tottenham-Chelsea, 1967. I was 11 then. Myself and my neighbour, Dave, travelled up on our own, kids, just the pair of us. We were on the terraces, straight to the front. We were by one of the pylons, those things stick in your mind. Later that season, we won the FA Cup Final against them as well. I’ve seen ups and downs, certainly, but there you go.”

Vanessa: “My connection is through my mum. Funnily enough, our father supported Arsenal. I think that’s why Keith supported Spurs in the first place! My love of Spurs is through my great-grandfather on my mum’s side - Bert Bliss (104 goals in 215 appearances, 1912-1922; FA Cup winner 1921). He’s up there with the greats. I remember going to a hospitality day at White Hart Lane and there were photographs of him on the wall. He was also on a wooden plaque, a list of the club’s top goalscorers (Bert is one of only 17 players to score over 100 goals for us). It’s a huge privilege for me to know that. I first went to Spurs regularly in the early 2000s. Now I’ve gone to Spurs with Keith, we’ve sat together at the new stadium and watched the Champions League Final there. It’s given me a whole new meaning to go. It’s brilliant. You couldn’t write the script!”