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The online group that reunited me with my heirloom

BBC A young woman with short dark hair stands outside holding up a gold fob chain which is around her neckBBC
I thought my grandmother's necklace had been lost forever, but a group of strangers helped me get it back

When I left my handbag - containing a gold necklace handed down to me by my grandmother - on a bus along one of Manchester's busiest routes, I had almost no hope of getting it back.

I had already done all the things you're supposed to do: I'd called the bus company, filled out the online form, had a cry, and began dreading the call to my family back home in Australia to deliver the news.

But then a local community Facebook group became my unexpected salvation, helping reunite me with my necklace and restoring my faith in humanity in the process.

One woman in particular went above and beyond to help me with my relatively insignificant problem. So I decided to ask her why.

'I had to help'

Beryl Walker was the first person to reply to my post, in which I had pleaded for my necklace to be returned to me, hoping the person who had picked it up would somehow see it.

She commented not because she had my bag, but because she had contacted her friend who drives the route on my behalf to ask for advice - a gesture so kind it almost made me cry.

"Your post got to me because of the necklace, which you treasured because of your grandmother, I just felt I had to help you try to get it back," she said.

"Being a nanna and great-gran it really got me.

"I have two granddaughters and I have given both of them some pieces of my jewellery, so it pulled at my heartstrings."

EPA A yellow double decker bus with 'Bee Network' written on the side is stopped at a bus stop. A person rides his bike in the foreground. EPA
When I left my handbag on a busy bus, I was not optimistic about getting it back

It wasn't so much her advice as her encouragement that prompted me to call the bus company every day for more than a week, resulting in me eventually getting the news that someone had handed it in.

Beryl was almost as thrilled as I was when I told her.

"I do scroll past a lot of things, but if I can help I will," she said.

"I've found keys and babies' toys or shoes lost or thrown out of their prams and posted pictures and said where they are.

"Lots of people help in this way too."

A sense of community

Beryl, who has lived in my area for more than 50 years, joined her local Facebook group after being widowed, becoming one of its most active members.

She said because her disability sometimes restricted her getting out and about, Facebook groups gave her a renewed sense of connection to her community.

"I think it's a good place to be, real people looking out for one and other," Beryl said.

Handout A selfie of an older woman wearing a purple stripey scarf and glasses. Handout
Beryl says she was compelled to help me as she is a grandmother herself

She said the group had allowed her to "know lots of people I've never met".

"There are a lots of funny people posting and commenting on posts just to make you laugh," she said.

It's true that without posting in that Facebook group, I could have eventually been reunited with my necklace.

But, as a relative newbie in my community, with most of my loved ones thousands of miles away, I'm grateful to have found people who cared enough to help a stranger on the internet.

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