MARIA Nicholls' parents were amazed when they opened their Advertiser to see two childhood photos of themselves staring back at them.

They were featured in the paper last month after they were found in Market Street by Zurich worker Ashley Bowes. He handed them to the Advertiser in the hope that their owner would come forward.

The pictures, which are enlargements of two originals, were dropped by Maria, 30, of Chiseldon.

She was planning to give them to her parents, Idris and Olive Lapham, who live in Pinehurst, for Christmas.

Maria said: "My parents know I had these old photographs, and they called me as soon as they saw them in the paper.

"I am really grateful to the man who found them because I am moving house at the moment and I think I've lost the original picture of my dad."

The pictures were taken in the 1930s.

Idris, 76, who grew up in Pontypool in south Wales, is pictured as a fair-haired eight year-old.