Abergavenny-based Homemakers Community Recycling has found a piece of local history that was a whisker away from being sent to landfill and lost forever.

It all came about when Homemakers, a charity/social enterprise which has a service level agreement with Monmouthshire County Council for bulky collections, was clearing a property in Raglan.

Rob Davies of Homemakers explained, “The property, Hill House, belonged to Mrs Anna Tribe and had been in the family since the 1860s.

“The clearance as described by Mrs Arthur (Mrs Tribe’s daughter) was a mammoth task and included ten van loads. Mrs Tribe is the great great great granddaughter of Lord Nelson and having moved to more manageable living accommodation Homemakers was asked to clear the property.

“Every effort was made by the family to preserve history particularly on Raglan village and Lord Nelson. Mrs Tribe was a direct descendent of Lord Nelson through the child he had had by his affair with Lady Emma Hamilton. She is his closest living relative.”

Items found at the house relating to Raglan were donated to Raglan History Group, including a picture restored by Homemakers of wounded soldiers at Raglan Castle in 1916.

The same copy of the picture was donated to Raglan Primary School.

Unknown to staff and Homemakers, the date chosen for the presentation was 100 years to the day when the picture was taken.

“We have been trying to arrange the presentation since last Christmas,” said Rob. “With cancellations on both sides, a date of October 5 was agreed. The headmaster retrieved the picture from his office having stored it for numerous months to discover it was taken 100 years to the day!”

Mrs Tribe is a Life President of the Lord Nelson Society and items related to her illustrious ancestor were returned to the family. Many other items from the house were reused by the general public after being purchased from the Homemakers showroom.

Represenatives from Homemakers visit schools and groups throughout Monmouthshire explaining the process by which they now reuse and recycle close to 400 tonnes per year.

For further information log onto hmcrecycling.co.uk or visit the showroom in the workhouse area of Abergavenny which is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm or Saturday 9am-4pm.

If you would like to contact Homemakers to have items collected or for a clearance you can do so by ringing 01873857618.