Jewish Care has assisted the return of treasured family photographs Barbara and Peter Wiseman feared had been lost forever.
The charity was contacted by David Sumray - a family historian and a keen collector of Victorian photo albums - after he paid £3 for an album containing pictures spanning more than 50 years from the North London Hospice charity shop in Finchley.
"When I saw the album I immediately thought it was special," Mr Sumray explained. "I realised that the owner's barmitzvah and wedding invitations and photographs were there." Googling the name "Peter Wiseman", he came across a photo on the Jewish Care website.
Making contact with the charity, he was told that staff in its social work department were working closely with the family and that Mrs Wiseman was a resident at Jewish Care's Otto Schiff care home in Golders Green.
Social worker Wendy Stolerman then arranged a meeting between the parties.
It emerged that the album had been mistakenly thrown away as part of a clear-out and it was agreed that Mr Sumray would keep the album but return the photos to the Wisemans.
"I am so grateful to David Sumray for all his detective work," Mr Wiseman said. "Thanks to him, we have our wonderful family photographs back - pictures of both my wife and I as youngsters, pictures of our grandparents, my barmitzvah pictures and our wedding photos, as well as pictures of our children as they were growing up and our grandchildren. I am also delighted that David will keep the album and restore it to its former glory."