Joy as cash makes a grand return

When holidaymaker Graham Bate absent-mindedly packed £1,000 in a bundle of clothes for a charity shop he feared his holiday money had gone for good.

But he hadn't reckoned on the honesty and dedication of staff at the charity shop in Cradley Heath. The embarrassing error happened the day before Mr Bate and his wife Lillian were due to fly out to Turkey for a break. He made a frantic phone call to Chris Bridgewater, who runs the shop which raises money for the County Air Ambulance.

She rushed back to the premises from her home in Wolverhampton to trawl through donation bags to search for the missing money.

But, as Chris admitted, all the searchers were "flustered" and the hunt came to nothing.

It was the next day when a volunteer at the Air Ambulance Aid shop, Roy Sherwood, spotted the cash wedged down the side of the donation bag which was itself hidden under other parcels.

Mr Sherwood said: "They were overjoyed and kept thanking us, but we could never steal. What kind of conscience would we have if we'd have done that?"

Mr Bate, aged 66, and Mrs Bate, 69, returned from their three-week holiday in Turkey last week full of praise for Chris and Roy.

Mrs Bate, of Grange Road, Cradley Heath, said: "The shop staff were genuinely concerned.

"Chris came over here with her husband and they emptied through bags and searched high and low but didn't spot anything.

"She was really worried and went out of her way to help us – both she and Roy deserve a mention, big time. They wouldn't even accept a drink off us, they just said 'please keep using the shop.'"

But Mrs Bridgewater, aged 56, said she was simply doing the job she loved.

She set up the shop eight years ago to raise money for the County Air Ambulance after her mother recommended the charity to her.

"Mr Bate cried in my arms he was that relieved," she said.

"His face was a picture and I said 'come on, let's go outside and tell your missus' – she was very pleased as well.

"I couldn't sleep that night knowing that money was missing," she added.