A mission has begun to discover the identity of this mystery couple from a bygone era after a hidden photo was discovered in Brickhill.

Barry Facey, of Hamble Road, made the find when he dismantled an old frame containing a picture of himself and his sister taken around the time the Second World War ended.

He said: "I couldn't believe what I found hidden in the frame.

"The photo had been split into four and stuffed into the recess. I pieced it together and saw it was of a young soldier and, I assume, his girlfriend.

"I had never seen either of them before in my life."

Mr Facey's parents had the frame made as the war was ending, when they lived in Park Road West, Bedford. It was actually made from the side of a tea chest because of war shortages. The four pieces of the photo were used to give support to the picture of a young Mr Facey and his sister.

The 65-year-old got in touch with the Times & Citizen following our recent successes identifying a 1950s Bedford Rowing Club crew and a cricket team from Thurleigh.

He said: "The couple look as if they are in their mid-twenties in the photo so, presuming it was taken around the same period as the one of myself, that would mean they are in their late eighties now.

"I know that photos like this were quite few and far between at the time, so it would be a real shame not to reunite this either with the couple or with a descendant.

"Bedford is not that big a place and hopefully this picture will jog some memories."

Using the finest computing magic, Mr Facey was even able to make the mystery photo look as good as new.

He added: "I was able to take out all of the tear lines to recreate the original image on the computer.

"But nothing beats the way an old photograph looks and feels – they have real character. I would just like the original owners to experience that now."