ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

TEENAGER Graeme Mitchell thought he'd waved goodbye to his wallet - containing cash and his bank and phone cards - when he lost it in St Helens town centre.

But Graeme, a Cowley School student from Burnell Close, St Helens, hadn't counted on the honesty and unselfishness of the finder.

When his dad Steve rang the local police to report the loss he was advised to ring a Mr Nelson of Ormskirk.

"I found out," Steve tells us, "that while Mr Nelson was visiting St Helens he'd picked up the lost wallet. Not only did he immediately report the find but insisted on making the 20-mile round trip from his Ormskirk home to return it to Graeme."

In this selfish, grab-all age it's refreshing to hear of such little episodes which, all- too-often, tend to get swamped under all the bad-news incidents.

"Certainly," says Steve Mitchell, "it has restored my faith in human nature."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.