Man reunited with cap lost at Stockport Plaza 50 years ago
A man has been reunited with the school cap he lost in a Greater Manchester cinema some 50 years ago, after it was found during renovation work.
The hat was found along with cigarette packets and sweet wrappers during work on the front circle at Stockport Plaza.
Neil Dyson said he did not remember when he lost it, as he was a regular visitor to the film theatre as a boy.
The Grade II listed building's revamp will see it returned to how it looked when it opened in 1932.
Mr Dyson said the cap was "not in bad nick" considering how long it had been lost.
The Plaza opened as a cinema and variety theatre in the 1930s but closed in 1966.
It spent three decades as a bingo hall before being purchased by Stockport Plaza Trust in 2000 and subjected to a £3.2m restoration programme.
Mr Dyson, who went to the building in the 1960s, said: "In those days, school would bring us here as part of English history lessons to see Shakespeare plays.
"I should imagine I lost [the cap] on a school outing, but I don't remember specifically when I lost it".
The Peel Moat school cap, bearing his name written in his mother's handwriting, was returned to Mr Dyson after an appeal by staff at the Plaza.
He said he probably "got a good telling off" from her after he lost it.