In 1916, Lily Hodges of Leominster decided to send her brother Alec, who was fighting in France with the Machine Gun Corps, a present. Knowing that he was very fond of the Chelsea buns sold in Mrs Pewtress’s bakery shop on the corner of New Street, she bought a bun, packed it in a small box, and put it in the parcel she posted to him. Unfortunately, the parcel never reached Alec, who had been seriously wounded, and evacuated to hospital. Eventually, the parcel, containing the bun, was sent back to Lily, as Alec could not be found. Rather than throwing it away, she kept it on the sideboard in her house for the rest of her life. Eventually, it was given to the Museum. It has featured on the radio, in the Hereford Times, and has had a special event organised round it.

The story does have a good ending. After convalescing in St Thomas’ Hospital in London for a long time, Alec was invalided out of the army, and returned to Leominster, where he ran a boot and shoe repair shop in Burgess Street for many years. He married and had a family of four children.