Distraught mum's plea for help in finding ‘family heirloom’ baby blanket lost after flying into Inverness Airport
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An anxious mum is asking for help in recovering a sentimentally precious ‘family heirloom’ baby blanket lost after flying into Inverness Airport.
Sophie Grant (37), a Highlander by birth, was journeying from her home in Oxford with baby son Felix to visit her mum in Dornoch.
The intensive care nurse was last off the Heathrow flight at Inverness, laden with hand baggage, baby and baby kit, and believes the irreplaceable, beautifully hand-knitted item was strung over her shoulder.
The blanket was made and gifted to her own mum by her great grandmother, Nana Grant, in the 1980s.
As well as keeping Sophie snug as a baby, it was used for older son Harry (6) before being passed to Felix, who is now nine months old.
With Storm Pia striking the area, it was extremely windy at the airport and Mrs Grant reckons it could easily have blown away as she disembarked or may have been dropped on the plane or in the airport itself.
So far enquiries to Inverness Airport and British Airways have failed to solve the mystery.
She also hopes that a public plea for help might alert someone who discovered and retrieved the item or handed it in.
Husband Oliver Lomas, a haematologist, took to social media with a photograph of it wrapped around Harry when he was a baby.
“I came up from Heathrow Airport yesterday (Wednesday) and landed at 11.45 am,” Mrs Grant said.
“I know I had it on the plane because a gentleman passed me down my jacket and the blanket which were in the overhead locker.
“I had my handbag, a baby bag and hand luggage as well – I was completely loaded with stuff. I was convinced I’d put the baby blanket over my shoulder.
“At Inverness, I then discovered they had lost my buggy so I was so completely distracted with that and the process of getting off the plane with all our stuff.
“I got to lost luggage looking for the buggy, which is still missing, and it wasn’t until I was getting everything together that I realised the blanket was missing.
“Looking back, I know I didn’t have the blanket at baggage reclaim and I know I put it over my shoulder on the plane.
“I checked the floor of the plane to make sure I hadn’t left anything. I think it has come off somewhere, either on the plane or on the tarmac.
“It was so blustery yesterday I’m hoping it hasn’t flown somewhere around the airport.
Summing up just how precious the blanket is to her, Mrs Grant added: “My great-grandma, my dad’s grandma, was always just Nana Grant to us. We loved her dearly.
“She knitted it for me as a baby., just as she had done for my brother, sister and all my cousins.
“My mum kept it in really good condition for when I had children.
“I’m not bothered about losing the pram – I can replace that – but I just can’t replace the blanket.
“It was such a lovely thing to have and I’m just hoping someone can help us get it back.”
Anyone who may have found, handed in or have any information on the blanket should contact us at newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk or by phone on 01463 246575.
