MANAGERS of a group of almshouses on Teesside are on the hunt for a lion.
The beast that the trustees of the Sir William Turner's almshouses at Kirkleatham, near Redcar, are looking for is a motif on a cap badge, worn by pupils at Sir William Turner's School.
The school, later known as Coatham Grammar School, stood in Coatham Road, Redcar, for more than 100 years, until the site was redeveloped and Redcar Library was built in its place.
The distinctive metal badge depicts the Turner Lion standing with its foot resting on a metal bracket. The bracket represents the part of a flour mill that connects the mill's drive shaft to the mill-stones - the turner that rotates the stones.
Sir William was Lord Mayor of London in 1668, two years after the Great Fire of London.
The almshouses are building a small collection of memorabilia connected with Sir William Turner, his school and almshouses.
"We already have a number of original items including a blazer badge and a silver button with the Turner's crest. We would dearly love a cap badge, pieces of crockery with the family crest and copies of any early photographs of the almshouses or the school in Coatham Road," said Peter Sotheran, chairman of the trustees.
The collection will form a permanent display at the almshouses.
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