LONG-LOST photographs of a wedding have been returned to the family thanks to Chaffcombe village website.

The photographs of the Neale family wedding were hidden away in an attic at a cottage in the village.

Julian Butler, who bought the property, spotted the photos in a large box which contained old photographs and newspaper cuttings dating back to 19th Century.

No one in the village knew where the relatives of the people in the photos lived or even if they were still alive.

Mary Butler, Julian’s mother and deputy chairman of the parish council, who runs the village website, put some of the old photos online to try to re-unite the documents and photos with any descendants.

One year later, a relative of the Neale family contacted the Chaffcombe Parish Council website asking where the images came from and eventually all the old photographs were collected by a grandson, just in time for Christmas.

Mary said: “The website has only been running for 18 months but this shows that people do look at it and it is all about trying to get the name of our village out there.”

The Neale family were well regarded and lived in Chaffcombe House until the end of the Second World War.

Among the collection on the website are old cricket photos and of men who served in the war.

Lewis Bates, who also helped collate the family photographs for the website, said: “I was very pleased about it. It just shows that the website does reach out to a lot of people.”

The collection can also be viewed online at the Chaffcombe village website, www.chaffcombe.com