A Carmarthen pensioner who volunteers at her local British Heart Foundation (BHF) shop made the amazing discovery of a rare photograph of her father, who died when she was just a child, on the cover of a book while stacking shelves.
Jean Green’s father Joe Elias died when she was just seven years old and the family have few photographs of her fisherman dad. Last week the 76-year-old was stacking the book shelves on her weekly shift when she noticed an image on the front of a donated book and to her surprise and delight found it was a picture of her dad, who died in the early 1950s.
A former NHS worker and great-grandmother of one, Jean volunteers at the Pensarn Retail Park store twice a week said she couldn’t believe her eyes when she realised it was her late dad on the front cover.
“I looked at this book of images of West Wales, and then I thought to myself that fisherman looks like my dad. I looked closer and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that it was him. It was an unbelievable surprise and it felt so emotional to see him there in print. We have few photos of my dad, so it just feels like this was meant to be.”
The book ‘Images of West Wales’ was published by the Carmarthen Journal in 1999, with the image of Joe Elias beside his fishing boat believed to be taken in the late 1940s.
“He was a fisherman on the River Tawe, and he was only 62 when he died. He was a quiet character who would’ve kept himself to himself, but he was well known in the town for making coracle boats. It was lovely to see an image of him standing by one of his boats.”
Jean has volunteered at BHF Cymru’s Carmarthen Store for almost two years. Linda Ryan manager of the BHF store said:
“Jean is a wonderful help and a much-loved member of our team It’s just so fortunate for Jean that she was in that day, or we may never have known the connection. The odds of this happening are just so slim – the book is a rare find, and anyone could have been tasked with stocking the books that day.
“Maybe Jean’s dad was looking out for her that day.
“We hope this will encourage those who have any rare and unique pieces in need of a new home to donate it to us, you never know what you will find at your local BHF shop.”
By shopping second hand with British Heart Foundation, the charity saves over 56,000 tonnes of goods from going to waste, and all the money raised helps the charity fund life saving research into heart and circulatory diseases. To find out more on how to Declutter and donate to the BHF, visit bhf.org.uk/declutter
