Belinda Merrison thought her late mother's brooch was long gone, but a chance conversation revealed its whereabouts.

Mrs Merrison, of Lowthorpe, could not believe her ears when she was told a brooch had been discovered in a bag donated to a charity shop and that the manager was looking for the owner.

The gold brooch decorated with peridot, which is the birthstone for August, and mother of pearl stones, had not been seen since before Ann Hill, of North Frodingham, died around three years ago.

"After my mum died my dad, William Hill, was sending her things to charity shops," said Mrs Merrison.

"Around a week after I left a bag of stuff on the doorstep of the Samaritans shop a friend I volunteered with on the Samaritans stand at the Yorkshire Show told me about a brooch that had been given in."
She went on: "I just knew when she said it that it must be the missing brooch.

"Mum had a bad habit of sewing brooches on to her clothes so dad must have just put the blouse into the bag without looking."

When one of the Bridlington Samaritans shop's volunteers alerted manager, Mike Bailey, of what they had found he realised the brooch may have been sent to the shop in error because it had been sewn on to the blouse.

Instead of keeping the gold brooch, which originally belonged to Mrs Merrison's great-grandmother, he took it to be valued by a jeweller friend and discovered it was an early Victorian piece made using the semi-precious stone peridot set in 15 carat gold and worth several hundred pounds.

He initially took it to the police station but when he found out the brooch would become his if nobody claimed it within three weeks he resolved to find the true owner himself and put a poster in the shop window.

He said: "It took me 15 minutes to get it off the blouse.

"After I got it valued I was advised to go to the police station and hand it in. It would have become mine if nobody claimed it within three weeks but I decided to keep it for six months and put a sign in the window."

Mrs Morrison said she was very grateful for the honesty of Mr Bailey and his staff and for their efforts to return the brooch to her.
She said: "It was really nice what they did. They could have put it up for sale.

"Life has made me cynical, but I don't think there are many charity shops that would have done this."