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I found this photograph in the loft of our bungalow about two years ago, when we cleared the loft for some roof strengthening and insulation. The house was built in the fifties and remained in the same family till we bought it in 2007. We have the original deeds showing the details of the builder who bought the land, how much he bought it for, and how much the previous owners paid for the house he built on it. It also shows when the house was transferred through the generations of that family.

There were a few other items in the loft, a couple of religious cards sent on past Christmases, a french school book. Some grammar school paperwork. The backing cards in the frames were from a long forgotten fabric mill and department store in Nelson, Lancashire, and had measurements for dress fittings scrawled on them. I had enough glints of the people who lived here to almost build a family tree.

I never let go of the items but they never really meant anything to me except this photo. It haunted me since I first laid eyes on it. I recognised the people in the photo straight away, though as the writing on the back of the photo indicates, this was taken in Cape Colony (now The Cape of Good Hope) in December 1898, so it is highly unlikely that I ever knew or met any of these people.

I have a strange relationship with the bungalow, it has changed a lot since I first came here, it has been taken away from me, then I have been allowed back; nowhere else I have been ever feels like home in the same way.

I believe the family referred to on the back of the photograph and cards were the family of the wife of the man who sold us the house; last time I saw him he was crying because he was leaving the house his wife had loved when she was alive. I have always felt I shouldn't have these items, that they didn't belong to me, and my superstitious side tells me that the bad luck I have had here was dealt because I kept the items, when I knew I shouldn't have.

I checked with directory enquiries that there is still someone with the previous owners name at the forwarding address he gave, and today I said goodbye to the items, including this photo, and posted them back to their rightful owner. I hope they make him smile.