Picture perfect - Photos mistakenly donated to Compton Hospice returned to family
A series of photographs mistakenly given to Compton Hospice in a box of stamps have been identified and returned to the family who handed them over.
Over 150 pictures, which feature members of a family from the 1930s to the early 1990s, were donated as part of two large boxes of stamps, to raise money for the hospice.
The charity, which is based on Finchfield Hill, noticed the photographs, the majority of which were from the 1930s to 50s, and immediately uploaded them to Facebook to try and track down the owners.
Grace Ruston, marking officer at the hospice, said: "We couldn't believe it when we found the photos amongst the stamps.
"We realised that they must have been donated in error and thought we would get something out there to try and find the owners of these treasured memories."
The only clues they had was an old stamped addressed envelope amongst the stamps which had the name Hatfield written on it, with an address.
The initial Facebook post, which was put on January 29, was seen be 130,000 people and shared multiple times.
Eventually, Carline Cockayne nee Hatfield, formerly of Stafford Road, Wolverhampton, saw the post.
She identified the couple that featured predominately in the pictures to be her uncle Bill and aunt Dot.
Bill had been an avid stamp collector, and the stamps had been donated so as to be put up for auction by the hospice.
The photographs were successfully returned to Caroline and her family last week.
Caroline was thrilled to receive the photos and immensely grateful to Compton Hospice staff for bringing them back to her.
"Family photos like this are truly priceless," said Ms Ruston, "I'm so glad we managed to find the owners before they were lost forever."
