Hadleigh charity shop volunteer reunites wartime journal with owner’s family after surprise discovery in box of donations

The unexpected discovery of a wartime diary led a charity shop volunteer to embark on a mission to reunite the journal with its owner’s distant relative on the other side of the world.

Sally Noble was searching through a box of donations to the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice (EACH) retail outlet in Hadleigh, when she unearthed an A5 booklet belonging to a French Scout, who had described his pilgrimage through his homeland in 1942.

After searching the scout’s name online, the volunteer was surprised further still to find contact details for a relative of the journal’s writer, who now lives on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia.

“I have a background in antiques, and I’m interested in history and ancestry, so I found this fascinating,” said Sally.

“It’s a lovely discovery and I was amazed to find it among a box of donations.

“I was able to translate parts of it as I speak some French.

“I established that it was written by a young man on a pilgrimage and it was clearly very personal to him.

“It’s more of a reflective journal than an account of daily happenings.

“It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and is absolutely fascinating, although what I can’t understand is how he was on this pilgrimage in 1942, during the Second World War.

“France would have been occupied, so that part is a mystery.”

Through her searches on a family history website, Sally was able to make contact with the writer’s relative, whom she believes is his great-great nephew.

Following an exchange of messages, she was able to arrange for the diary to be delivered to New Caledonia, via a courier.

“I went home and typed the writer’s name into my computer,” Sally explained.

“Sure enough, a relative popped up and I subsequently swapped messages with him. He came back within 24 hours.

“I got the feeling he was a bit taken aback but certainly grateful to be contacted.

“I’d describe the journal as fragile. It’s beginning to show its age. The paper is deteriorating and pages are starting to tear.

“I looked after it with kid gloves until sending it to New Caledonia. Hopefully, this shows how much care and respect we have for donations.”