A GRANDMOTHER has described her joy at being reunited with a treasured football medal dating from the First World War.

Hazel Theobald, 80, was devastated when she discovered she had lost the sentimental piece of gold jewellery on a necklace during a shopping trip.

She reported the loss to a British Transport Police officer at Sunderland Railway Station, but had not left her details.

A short while later it was found – and it took a media appeal and two weeks to trace her.

The medal, inscribed Runners Up for the Chalmers Cup 1918, was presented to the family of James Henry Theobald – the uncle of her late husband of the same name – who died in the Great War.

As thousands across the region prepare to mark Remembrance Sunday, Mrs Theobald said: “I am delighted it has been found. I was really upset I had lost it and never thought I would see it again.

“It is of great sentimental value. It was given to me by my late husband. It is made of rose gold and I thought it would have been found by somebody and melted down by now.”

James Henry Theobald, who was in the Durham Light Infantry, died in action at the age of 19 in September 1915.

Mrs Theobald, who visited his grave in St Omer, said she had been shopping in Newcastle and returned to her home in Southwick, Sunderland, when she discovered it was missing.

She said: “I didn’t know where I could have lost it. I went to Sunderland Station and bumped into a policeman on the platform and asked him where I should check for lost property.”

British Transport PCSO Dean Kitching said: “I knew how much the locket meant to the lady and the sentimental value it held. She was visibly upset that she had lost it.”

She then met colleague PC Mick Proudfoot who had found the medal but then realised she had no contact details for Mrs Theobald.

“Although it initially felt like finding a needle in a haystack I was determined to try to trace her,” she added.