A pensioner who lost her wallet containing bank cards, cash and precious contact cards in Royston town centre, would like to track down the kind woman who returned it.

Pat Van Spyk from Kelshall thought her purse had gone for good when she discovered it was missing as she went to pay for a facial.

The 77-year-old had been shopping earlier that day and had no idea when or how she lost it and never thought she’d see it again.

Little did she know a benevolent woman had found the wallet in the High Street and handed it into Howes Opticians, in the hope that it would be reunited with its owner.

Pat said: “The optician said ‘we know Pat because she comes in here a lot’.”

As Pat’s phone was broken, she missed the calls from Howes, saying they had the purse. But when the phone was fixed at 2.30pm the following day, she listened to her voicemail messages and was delighted to hear the good news that the wallet was in safe hands.

She said: “I was overjoyed, mainly to be reunited with my contact cards for the gardening club and loyalty cards, like for Costa.

“I never thought I’d see it again. I thought it was brilliant that it had been found.”

Pat doesn’t know anything about the kind-hearted woman, but would like to catch up with her over coffee, perhaps in her favourite coffee shop Costa.

She said: “I would like to meet her for a coffee and to give her a reward. It’s so nice to think that the people of Royston would do such a thing.

“I’d like to make her feel good for what she did because – when I found out somebody had returned it – I felt great.”

Pat said she hopes the story will restore other people’s faith in the Royston community.

She said: “I met a woman recently and somebody had broken into her car. I felt so bad for her, but said don’t be put off by it because of the kind gesture somebody did for me.”

If the woman would like to come forward and meet Pat, then contact rebecca.day@archant.co.uk.