It's a quirky tale of what goes around comes around - leaving the Leveridge family of Te Puna with unexpected new friends. When Donna Leveridge lost a memory card at Christmas last year, holding close to 400 precious family photos, she thought she'd never get it back. The family was on holidayin Masterton and she hunted through Queen Elizabeth Park where she thought she had dropped it. It seemed the card was gone for good - until last week. An Australian woman, Judi Ficher, was out walking when she found the card near bushes.
When she returned home to Australia, she searched through the photographs and found a clue. It was a photograph of Mrs Leveridge's daughter Kate, receiving the Alwyn R Thompson Scholarship at Otumoetai College's 2009 school prize-giving. Ms Ficher from Australia "did the CSI thing" and zoomed in on the photo, noting the college emblem. She then googled the contact details for Otumoetai College and contacted the school. Mrs Leveridge was put in touch with Ms Ficher. After a few emails, the women were bemused to discover their families knew one another. Ms Ficher's partner, Craig McKeown, is from Mrs Leveridge's hometown Masteron. His mother, Maria Steffert, knows Mrs Leveridge's parents, Vin and Gaye Gough. Mrs Leveridge's sister, Debby Gough, went to Lansdowne School with Mr McKeown and even has a class photo of both of them. All quite remarkable, but what is even more quirky is that since this incident, the Leveridge family has been able to return the favour. Last week, they found a sim card and Mrs Leveridge popped it in her cellphone and found the owner's phone number. "I did think 'if this Judi Ficher can do some detective work, then so can I'," Mrs Leveridge chuckled. The cycle of lost and found goods seems to be continuing with Mrs Leveridge's daughter, Anna, losing her blue Roxy wallet at Tauranga Art Gallery on Saturday. They are hoping someone seeks them out - yet again.
