Margaret the maker of dreams has a poignant wish of her own ...

She was about six weeks old, but other than that Margaret Hayles has no information about where she came from.

Now 65 and living in West Parade, she would like to find out.

All she knows is that she was named after the person who came across her, and the place where she was found.

It was decided her birthday should be February 1, and her birth certificate simply states that names of the father and mother are unknown.

As Jean Stockwell she was taken into care, until she was adopted as a toddler by a wealthy family from Wivelsfield near Haywards Heath who changed her to Margaret.

Recently she has been inspired by watching a BBC1 series by Kate Adie about foundlings, and wants to find any information possible about where she came from.

She has contacted the South London Press in the hope there might be a relevant newspaper cutting in their archive, and is meanwhile hoping for a response to her story.

"Why I went to do this story is to see if there is someone, or a story, with details of my being born. I got someone to look on my behalf in the archives for stories on February 1. But then I looked at my birth certificate and realised it would be March 14 when I was found, so a story is likely to have been in the paper around that day.

"It is a weird feeling. I have driven through Stockwell on a couple of occasions, when I have been up to London, and it was weird because I look at any old person and think that could be my mother or my father."

She did try in the past to find out something of her background by phoning Lewes District Council where she was originally adopted from, but was persuaded to give up her attempt.

"I was adopted by a very wealthy family. I had my own nanny. My adopted sister also had her own nanny. My parents had a school for mentally handicapped children, so they had a lot of staff.

"From when I was age five, all the staff had to call me Miss Margaret, so I would brought up in a very snobby, very weird way, I suppose.

"I was very privileged. My clothes came from Harrods, and it was all very formal. I went to public school. I remember my father once when I was going to help clear the table said - Oh, darling, you don't do that; nobody does that with maids."

She "adored" her father but never had any feeling for the mother she compares to Hyacinth Bucket - a materialistic woman concerned with possessions and wealth.

She had a sister, Shirley, and remembers being told by an aunt that the two of them were adopted as "a show-piece."

"My mother was spending all her time just trying to impress people. I rejected her from the word Go. My nana - my nanny - I loved to bits. She was like a replacement mum. She did everything for me, changed my nappies and put me to bed."

The family used to holiday in Bognor Regis where Margaret would constantly be changed into new outfits.

"On the beach I was never allowed to be a normal child and mess about."

They lived in a beautiful house in the country with 16 acres of grounds.

"I remember standing in the garden, looking around and thinking - I belong to no-one.

"I always remember that. I had been picking primroses. I was just looking all around, looking up at the sky, thinking I belong to no-one."

"My adopted mother told me all sorts of stories, just on and on. She told me my mother was a nurse and my father was a doctor - that was because she wanted me to be a nurse, and said it was all in my breeding. Then another time she said I was found in Plymouth, in an air raid shelter."

She did become a nurse when she left school, then married at 20 and had four children of her own before she was 25.

Twelve years of her life were devoted to Dreams Come True, appearing regularly on programmes such as TVAM with Ann Diamond to talk about the fulfilling work she did with children.

She helped 2,000 of them realise their dreams, whether meeting Cliff Richard, singing a song with David Essex, tuning a Steinway piano in Hamburg, or visiting Legoland in Denmark.

Dreams Come True came about by chance. She was talking to a neighbour who happened to say her daughter had cancer and would love her to meet Bob Champion so that he could say - If I can do it, you can do it, too.

Margaret found out the name of the trainer of Alderniti, and contacted Bob to request a meeting. Stephanie King was taken up to Fontwell, and the Evening Argus carried the story - giving Margaret the nickname "Mrs Fixit."

Doctors and health workers around the country were soon contacting her asking for help for a child not responding to treatment or fighting chemotherapy and needing a lift.

For a number of years she travelled out to Switzerland every year to take a group of children to the rock festival in Montreux, where they got to meet stars such as David Bowie, Aha, and Queen.

"I remember one little girl with cancer whose mum was also dying of cancer. She came up to me and said I want one dream come true - and that is for you to make my mum better.

"She saw Morten Harket (Aha) who she adored. At the end of the party she came up to me, this little skinny 11 year old, and said - Margaret, I want to thank you for the best day of my life.

"The tears were running down her cheeks.

"Everybody in the room was crying, even my partner, it was so emotional."

Her work ended on a sour note when a Daily Mirror reporter claimed that the Beastie Boys were offensive and swore at the Dreams Come True children when they appeared at Montreux.

"There was no truth in it what so ever - the Beastie Boys were absolutely lovely to the children, and even signed their autographs with God Bless You."

She moved to Bexhill with partner Simon Callaghan two years ago, and writes stories for her current project for children, Fairytale Pony Farm, which is about the miniature ponies she used to breed.

"I have had a very full life. If I drop down tomorrow I will know I had a very good life really."

She is hoping now to hear from someone who might know her story: "I was found by someone called Jean in Stockwell. I don't know who she was."