Archived press
release.
Thanks to the eagle-eyed qualities of the Council’s refuse
teams, one Felixstowe resident was successfully reunited recently
with her handbag that contained all her life savings.
The 84 year old Felixstowe woman was in the middle of packing up
to move home this month on the same day as her refuse was due to be
collected and accidentally managed to put her handbag out alongside
her black sack.
“She lived at a block of flats, so her black sack was one of
many left in the communal area. Thankfully, when one of our team
loaded the sacks into the back of our refuse freighter a set of
keys fell out of the handbag which made him look more carefully and
realise that something was not quite right,” said Cllr Andrew Nunn,
Cabinet Member for the Environment, natural and built.
“A quick look inside the handbag revealed that it contained a
considerable sum of money and other personal items. However,
because this was a communal rubbish area with sacks from a number
of properties, it was not instantly obvious who the handbag
belonged to.
“The handbag was taken back to Suffolk Coastal Service’s depot
at Ufford, where one of the managers searched the bag properly,
found some personal identification and was able to track down the
owner. Steve Green, the SCS Waste Services Manager, then drove to
Felixstowe to personally reunite the woman with her handbag. I am
so pleased that thanks to the vigilance of our SCS workers, this
woman was spared all the stress that could have occurred,” added
Cllr Nunn.
The woman has since written to both Steve Green and the team,
who she thanked personally when they visited her new home to
collect her rubbish.
She wrote: “How can I thank you enough for returning the life
savings of an old lady. As I was moving the next day, you can
imagine my relief at its safe return. The bag contained everything
I own. Fortunately I hadn’t even realised I had lost it, and
certainly would not have known where, so at least I was saved the
worry of wondering what I had done with it. My Lord was certainly
watching over
me!”