A PIECE of history from Newbridge's Memo is back home - after being missing for more than 30 years.

A Bakelite clock dating from the 1930s was recently handed back to the Newbridge Memorial Hall where it once hung on the wall until its closure in the 1970s.

The clock's return is being welcomed by the Friends of Newbridge Memo who are seeking to restore the dilapidated building to its former glory. The Memo has made it to the final of the BBC2 Restoration programme which hands around £3 million to the winner.

The Argus is the official campaign newspaper of the Newbridge Memo as it competes against seven other buildings drawn from across Britain to scoop the top prize on August 8.

The clock was returned earlier this month by the family of a recently deceased former committee member of Newbridge Memo who had taken the clock for safe-keeping when the cinema closed.

Howard Stone, chairman of the Friends of Newbridge Memo, said: "I think it has to take its rightful place in the cinema once it is restored.

"It works and we cannot wait to put it back on the wall. Other things have recently been returned to the Memo, including some bronze plates commemorating the laying of the foundation stones, some minute books and a poster made for a pantomime years ago.

"These are the type of things that, now people are aware of what we are doing here, are filtering back to the Memo.

"We would like to see any other items that may have been taken years ago to be returned - particularly the six art deco lights that were once mounted on the side walls of the cinema."

He added: "I think people probably thought all those years ago that the place wasn't going to open again and thought they could possibly use some of the items and took them.

"Fortunately there is not a lot missing but there are little things that might make a bit of a difference and make it all the more authentic when it comes to restoring the building."