COINCIDENCE played a leading role when Tom Flurrie found a link with his past that he thought was gone forever.Mr Flurrie was wandering around a car boot sale in Needham Market when he stumbled upon an old battered tin box.

By Victoria Knowles

COINCIDENCE played a leading role when Tom Flurrie found a link with his past that he thought was gone forever.

Mr Flurrie was wandering around a car boot sale in Needham Market when he stumbled upon an old battered tin box. In it lay family memories Tom never knew existed.

It was a familiar scene for Mr Flurrie. He often visited the car boot sale at Needham Market Lake with his family but he had never found anything quite like this before.

"The chap running the stall recognised my name and told me he had something with my name on it. But he told me it was dated 1947 and I knew no one in my family died of that name in that year.

"When I looked inside I could not believe it. There was my grandfather's memorial service. He was also called Tom and he was killed during the First World War and I had never seen this service. It was dated November 4 1914.

"I spent the whole afternoon rummaging through the tin to see what else I could find.

"There were pictures of my mother and father on their wedding day and a picture of my mother that I had never seen before," said Mr Flurrie.

Mr Flurrie's grandfather was the first soldier from Ipswich to be killed in the First World War and he said he was really thrilled to have something to remind him of the grandfather he never knew.

Also called Tom Flurrie, he was born in Manningtree, and then lived in Rose Lane, Ipswich.

"I have pictures of all my family but not him. I knew what he looked like but that was all. Although this is not a picture it is a wonderful memory which I found through sheer coincidence," said the 74-year-old.