MUM-of-two Diane Hall took part in a community clear-up of an alleyway near her Trowbridge home on Saturday – and was reunited with her purse and laptop stolen 18 months earlier.

Residents joined forces to clear the alleyway between Park Street and Bond Street, which has been cluttered up with rubbish such as unwanted mattresses for years.

Amazingly, lying under the junk were Mrs Hall’s laptop and purse, which had been stolen when a thief broke into her home in Park Street.

Mrs Hall, who went along to the clear-up with her children Betty, five, and Ted, three, said she was stunned when her next-door neighbour discovered the items under a broken fence panel.

She said: “It was a great surprise. It was the last thing I expected to find when I 
volunteered for the clear-up. We thought they were gone for good.

“Amazingly our neighbour was able to recover the hard drive and we have managed to get back all of our wedding photos and pictures of the children when they were born, which we thought we would never see again.

“When the laptop was stolen our main concern was the sentimental value of the pictures, so to be able to get them back despite the laptop being outside in the rain is incredible.”

The clear-up was organised by Newtown Area Residents’ Association and Asda Trowbridge Community Life.

Nicky Phillips, fellow 
resident and Community Life Champion at Asda Trowbridge, said: “It went very well and we made 
fantastic progress. We are going back again on Saturday for one more session to 
finish it off.”