NTI_LEECH_WALLET

Collect picture Bill Leech taken 1960. Bill Leech aged 73 from Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire is reunited with his wallet that he lost in a pub in Grenoble, France in 1960. A grandfather has been reunited with a wallet he lost down the side of a bar in the French Alps – 55 YEARS AGO. See NTI story NTIWALLET. Bill Leech, 73, was an 18-year-old French Language student at Grenoble University in 1960 when he mislaid the brown leather wallet while drinking in a pub at a ski resort in Chamrousse. He doesn’t remember losing it but after he went back to the resort and couldn’t find it he shrugged his shoulders and returned to the slopes. Incredibly, it had fallen down a gap in the counter where it remained untouched for over half a century. It was found by a carpenter earlier this year as he was remodelling the old bar counter, after it was moved 77 miles to a different pub. In August, Bill was stunned to receive a call out of the blue from a Welsh lady living in Grenoble who knew the carpenter and offered to send it back to the UK by post. But Bill – who is chairman of Henley Parish Council – couldn’t resist the chance to return to his old stomping ground and last week (5/10) he flew out to retrieve it himself.