THE family who owned an antique teddy bear left behind in an airport departure lounge have been traced to the Abergavenny area.

Staff at Bristol airport are appealing to relatives of the Baker family to get in touch and claim the bear, believed to made by British manufacturer Farnells, that was found in February of last year in a carrier bag along with a photograph dated 1918.

Earlier this year, staff made a public appeal for help in tracing any relatives and had assistance from teddy bear manufacturers and members of online family history forum RootsChat.com.

The children pictured in the photograph came from South Wales and may have lost their father in the First World War months after it was taken.

They are named as Dora and Glyn on the back of the photograph in a note to ‘our darling Daddie’.

Airport spokeswoman Jacqui Mills said: “We have now been able to source the history of the photograph and we think we have found the family the bear belongs to.

“Darling Daddie referred to a Nicholas James Baker, who was a Private in the Prince of Wales Volunteers South Lancashire Regiment in Mesopotamia in World War One. He died months after receiving the photograph on August 15, 1918 and is buried at the War Cemetery in Baghdad.

“The little children referred to could be Dora E Baker born in 1914 and Nicholas Glyn Baker, who was born in 1916 and died in 1986 in Newport. Their parents were Nicholas James Baker and Florence Edith Willey from the Abergavenny area.” She added: “We just want to try and find a relation who might know some more history about who the bear belongs to.

“We believe there are living relatives but we have not yet been able to find them.”

Do you know the relatives? Get in touch with the Argus on 01633 777212.