North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust appeal to the public to help reunite nursing certificates with rightful owners

The discovery was made by an administrative assistant at the University Hospital of North Tees, with certificates and badges dating as far back as 1956, all the way up to 1991.

The Trust has checked its employment records and cannot find any record of the nursing graduates.

They may have pre-dated the current electronic records or may not have been employed by the organisation after training at the Hartlepool School of Nursing.

Deputy chief nurse Karen Sheard said: “To be honest, we don’t know how these certificates and badges ended up in a cupboard in the hospital but we really want to give them back to their rightful owners.

"We assume that the students couldn’t attend a graduation ceremony and their certificates were put to one side, perhaps to be posted out at a later date.

"Whatever the reason, it would be wonderful to reunite these badges and certificates with the people who earned them.”

One of the badges, belonging to a Mrs Jean Hewitson, who graduated in 1956, is even engraved with her name.

To get in touch or to claim a certificate or badge, please contact: [email protected]

1956 graduates include Jean May Hewitson (nee Harrison) and Jean Elizabeth White (nee Huntley).

1962 graduates include J A Robinson, and 1974 graduates include M Berry.

1978 graduates include Lynne Judkins and Edna M Lowe.

1979 graduates Patricia Lloyd, and 1980 graduates include Pamela Brown Susan Dixon.

1983 graduates include Elizabeth Lacey.

1984 graduates include Kevin Thomas Keegan, Carmel Moore, Susan May, Lynn Marie Orchard, Elizabeth Pearson and Janice Kathleen Steele.

1985 graduates include Bryony Rose Rayner and Julia Margaret Waller.

1986 graduates include Jane Christine Foster, Janice Anne Hamilton and Kay Matterson.

1989 graduates include Margaret Pauline Carey, Catherine Jane Millman and Catherine Wade.

1991 graduates include Nigel Dickenson, Gillian Dorothy Fletcher, Ann Marie Hall, Susan Hegarty, Lisa Kay Jameson, Claire Elizabeth Johnson, Beverley Johnstone, Liza Newton, Michael Van Orsouw, Paula Richmond, Alan Steadman, Maureen Stockdale, Joanne Taylor and Mandy Michelle Yull.

There are also badges belonging to Mrs K Matterson and KL Nimmo, whose graduation years are not known.