Tanya and Kevin Copeland had taken their twin sons, Bennett and Nathan, to play in the area one afternoon when the camera apparently fell out of the boys' stroller.

The loss wasn't noticed until a few days later and after an extensive search, the camera was assumed gone forever.

"My husband and our twin boys were at Clearwater Beach one day and I must have dropped the camera," Mrs. Copeland explained.

"It went missing for weeks. Because I take it out with the diaper bag and stroller quite often, I thought I'd lost it on one of those outings. I searched high and low, but I couldn't find it."

With the boys' first birthday approaching on October 19 and the Copelands eager to capture the event on film, they finally gave in and purchased another camera.

But unbeknown to the family, a pair of good Samaritans had found the original camera and were conducting a desperate search to return it to its rightful owner.

Robert Patterson of Hamilton Parish was out walking his dog at Clearwater Beach one day when he spotted the camera lying on the ground.

Contacted by this newspaper, he gave a modest account of he and his wife's efforts to return the property.

According to Mr. Patterson, they placed an advertisement in which included one of the photographs and asked readers to contact them if they knew the family pictured.

"I found the camera on Clearwater Beach one morning while taking the dog for a walk," he said. "It was full of pictures and I looked through them to find if there was a means of identifying the owner."

There was one particular snapshot which let the Pattersons know the picture had been taken in Canada. As such, they questioned callers identifying the camera as theirs on that point.

"I immediately got a response to the photo and used it as my way of identifying if someone had called up trying to get a cheap camera," he said.

In speaking with Mrs. Copeland, we found the Pattersons had actually made a greater effort to return the camera than was indicated to us.

The couple first placed an ad in the Lost and Found section and, when that didn't generate a response, paid for a larger space which could accommodate a recognisable picture of the family.

"I'd been telling close friends about the missing camera and, as soon as they saw the ad, they knew immediately what it was about," said Mrs. Copeland.

"We received calls from friends, our landlord, even my doctor."

The ad, which appeared in the, asked anyone who recognised the family of four to contact the Pattersons.

"As soon as I looked at the picture I knew it was about the camera. I was relieved and thrilled."

Mrs. Copeland was able to meet Mrs. Patterson for coffee that same day.

"She was just the most lovely lady," she enthused. "She told us they'd found the camera the next day. I guess it had been in the stroller and fell out. Apparently they ran a Lost and Found ad but we didn't see it.

"We had 1,100 pictures on the camera. She and her husband had gone through them looking for some indication of who the camera belonged to. They felt strongly that it should be returned to us. They knew we'd be missing it and wanted to return our memories to us."

Mrs. Copeland said a few bogus claims had been made on the camera but the Pattersons had established a plan just in case.

"They were smart. We'd been to a wedding in Canada this summer, my husband's brother got married. And so they would ask where the wedding was. Of course, the other people didn't know.

"I was so touched ? not only did they take the trouble to place an ad in the Lost and Found section, but when that wasn't successful they thought to run an ad with a clear picture of all of us. She said they just talked about it so much. They were so determined to find us."

She couldn't praise their efforts enough, Mrs. Copeland added.

"It's a really nice end to the story and I made a nice personal connection as well. You don't hear of people going to those lengths to do something nice for someone.

"We had downloaded some of the images but there was a big gap of those we hadn't uploaded to the computer. We couldn't be more grateful or thankful."