A WELDING student had a reunion with a familiar face after he discovered a mask of himself he had made and then lost more than 30 years ago.

Dave Smith, 63, of Meadow Rise, Wribbenhall, had the plaster cast made when he was 25 and five years later decided to have it cast in brass at a foundry in Bewdley.

But after the foundry, based at the town's museum, closed down and moved to Birmingham, he assumed the mask was lost forever.

But last week Mr Smith was given permission to hunt for the missing cast in the former foundry shop and within minutes found it lying on a bench.

"It was like looking at a ghost. It was lovely not to see the wrinkles and receding hairline," he said.

He said he'd remembered about the mask recently when he was reminiscing and was prompted to look for his younger self.

He added he was thinking of taking the mask, now a little cracked and battered, to the foundry in Birmingham to finally get it cast.