A FIRST World War medal found by builders beneath a children's play area has been returned to the family of its recipient.

The Victory Medal, awarded to Private George Henry Sykes, was found in the late 1990s by Cyril Binns during construction of the play area in Cemetery Road, York.

Pvt Sykes was a 45-year-old father of eight when he signed up to fight in the war in 1915 and returned to the city before dying in 1920.

More than 20 members of Pvt Sykes' family attended a service where the medal was presented to his granddaughter, Dorothy Turpin, 81, of Wigginton Road, York.

She said she was thrilled the medal had been returned to the family.

Mrs Turpin added: "We wish we'd known more about him but they didn't talk about it in those days.

"Since we started all this we've found out much more about him.

"I didn't know anything about him, my dad never spoke about him because he was 15 years old when he died.

"It's going to the Castle Museum in January and hopefully as a family we will carry it with us. It's not worth a lot of money but the fact that it's in the family is great and I'm so pleased it was found and brought to us."