A treasure trove of photographs found in a vintage bedside table in Moray have been reunited with their rightful owners after going missing for nearly a decade.
The delicate collection of pictures and newspaper clippings dating back to the 1940s were discovered by Burghead upcycler Debbie Wright.
However, after being thwarted in her own attempts to find the relatives of the couple in the pictures she turned to the Press and Journal for help in tracking them down.
And yesterday Iris Garden from Turriff visited Moray with her brother John Gill, from Ellon, to be reunited with the family snapshots.
Mrs Garden, 67, said: “The first thing I usually do in the morning is pick up the newspaper and flick through the pages.
“The old photographs caught my eye. It was amazing, Debbie was actually holding a picture of my brother and I as children in the article.
“I think they must have belonged to my mum’s sister, Betty Sivewright. They will have been lost for about six years since she died, I never thought we would see them again.
“I just thought ‘oh me’ and the first thing I did was go into the computer to try and find a phone number for Debbie.”
Coincidentally the old pictures appeared in the Press & Journal on what would have been Mrs Sivewright’s 91st birthday.
Mrs Garden and Mr Gill brought more photos from the era with them to tell Mrs Wright the stories behind the faces.
The family has already shared the news of the find and are eager to share the images with relatives spread across the globe.
Mrs Garden added: “Some of my American cousins are in the photos. I’ve written to them since I was 14 or 15. It’s really nice to see them.”
The photos were discovered by the upcycler when she started refurbishing a Victorian bedside table she had bought at an auction in Elgin.
Tucked inside one of the drawers was the mini archive of images depicting family life in rural Aberdeenshire from 60 years ago.
Mrs Wright was delighted to be able to learn the stories behind the photos that have been sitting in her workshop for the last year.
She said: “It’s brilliant. It’s really good to know they’re going back to where they belong. It makes the job worthwhile.”