A FORMER Kendal pensioner has been reunited with the war-time gas mask she was issued with more than 75 years ago thanks to a slice of good luck and a cafe owner’s good detective work.

June Hughes, 87, was born and bred in Kendal and as a small child lived at 46 Branthwaite Brow which is now a successful eatery.

June married a Kendal railwayman and moved south to Chester in 1963 and forgot all about the war-issue gas mask she left stored in the attic of the Hallgarth house she moved to in 1949 after the war had ended.

But after the mask was discovered, still in its cardboard box, it was handed to James Tucker, the proprietor of Yard 46 Cafe as it still had the cafe’s 46 Branthwaite Brow address and June’s name clearly visible on the side of the cardboard box.

James set about trying to trace June, whose maiden name was Robinson, but had drawn a blank until her brother-in-law was enjoying a coffee in the Yard 46 cafe and heard James talking about his research and efforts to track June down.

The brother-in-law was able to inform James that June was alive and well and living in Chester.

James invited June to Yard 46 so she could see her former home as it is today and to offer her the gas mask as a gift.

And June says she was delighted to have been able to make the trip to see her former home and gas mask and it had been wonderful helping her recall memories of what was a very different time.

“It’s just amazing," said June. "I lived at 46 Branthwaite Brow from birth up until I was 18 with my father, Moses Henry Robinson and mother Enid, whose maiden name was Dirkin. My dad operated Kendal’s first taxi and I still have one of his business cards.

“We were all issued with gas masks during the war and it’s just amazing that mine has survived all those years in an attic.

“It was lovely of James to invite me to Yard 46 and to see the gas mask again. He wanted to give it to me but I have asked he keep it and he’s going to put it on show in a glass case in the cafe.”

Mr Tucker said he was thrilled to welcome June back to her old home and to reunite her with the gas mask.

“It’s just been an amazing story. My friend Ronnie Mullin, who runs the Factory Tap pub in Kendal, acquired the gas mask after it was discovered in the attic at Hallgarth," he said. “After seeing the address on the box he presented it to me rather than sell it at an antiques fair as he originally intended. I knew a family called Robinson had once lived at the cafe property but I just couldn’t get any more information.

“It was only when June’s brother-in-law was in one day having a coffee that I discovered who June was. It’s been amazing to hear her talk about what the property used to be like all those years ago.”