Shock and delight after lost album in memory of Hartlepool woman is found in Stafford

Hartlepool woman Karen McIntosh sadly died earlier this year at the age of 55 after battling cancer.

Before she passed away, five commemorative albums were made for her parents and closest friends.

When two of the albums didn’t arrive last autumn, Karen’s friend, Sharon Birch, did not give it a second thought and arranged with the rest of the group to have them replaced.

But more than eight months later she woke up to a Facebook post she didn’t expect.

One of the albums had turned up in Stafford and the person who had found it had posted in the Family Lowdown Tips and Ideas group in an attempt to reunite it with its owner.

Sharon, 55, said: “It was quite a shock, really, because I woke up on the Friday morning to find that someone that used to work for my nursery had tagged me in a post on Facebook.

“When I looked at it, it was the album for Karen.

"It just gave me such a huge shock.

"How could this turn up in another part of the country somewhere?”

Sharon got in touch with Carly Turner – the lady who had posted about the album - and found out it was discovered in a palette of items Carly had bought online.

Sharon said: "I didn’t give it a second thought, but obviously what happened is they have sent five, but two have gone astray.

"One turned up in this palette and another one is astray somewhere.”

"It was really strange.”

Sharon, who owns the Footprints Learning for Life nursery, in Hartlepool’s Tees Street, added: "It was almost like Karen was coming home.

"It was so heartwarming and lovely.”

The album was sent to Sharon and she gave it to Karen’s parents, Elaine and Peter Smith, who were “absolutely delighted”.

She said: “They were absolutely overwhelmed.

“Quite tearful and really pleased that someone had gone to the effort to find them.”

Sharon, from Seaton Carew, is now hopeful that the other album made in Karen’s memory will find its way back to Hartlepool too.

She said: "I hope it does turn up. I hate to think she out somewhere, lost. “

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