A BRASS plaque honouring a long-time worker of Arley estate which washed away in the floods of 2020 has been found 140 miles away in Somerset.

The plaque remembering John Bannister, who died in 1995, had been attached to a bench in the village for several years before the whole bench was carried away in last year's floods in the wake of Storm Dennis.

More than a year later, Minehead school teacher Keith Hunt was carrying out a beach clean-up at Exmoor when he stumbled across a plank of wood adorned with the very same brass plaque.

Keith told The Shuttle: "I've been doing litter picks every day over Exmoor and on Thursday I was up at the highest point. I was picking up all the usual bits of wood and plastic and then about 20 minutes in, I came across this piece of wood with a brass plaque on it so I had a closer look.

"I wasn't sure where Arley was so I took a photo of it, I didn't have anything to pick it up with at the time, it was quite heavy.

"I went back the next day to do another beach clean and took a screwdriver with me to remove the plaque and I had a search online and discovered Arley Arboretum.

"I reached out to them and then I had an email back the next day thanking me for finding it. They emailed me again on Sunday to let me know that John Bannister's widow still lives on the estate.

"They said she had called in and saw my photo on Friday and printed off the photo and the email. She was over the moon.

"I'm so glad I found it. The plaque has taken quite a while to get down here, it could have ended up anywhere.

"I don't know much about John Bannister apart from that he was really involved in the village and he worked on the estate for many years."

Keith plans to return the plaque in person to Mr Bannister's widow next month.

Until then, he plans to take the plaque into school and show his pupils the impressive route it travelled.