A TYWYN dad and his daughter discovered a ball on the town’s beach that had drifted over from Ireland - and found its owners within hours thanks to the power of social media.

Luke Rickard and his daughter Summer were out on their daily walk on Sunday, 11 April when Summer found the ball.

Luke’s first thought was to post about the ball on Facebook. It was only when they arrived home that they realised there was an address written on the ball - from Ireland!

Using the power of social media Luke’s friend Jayne Burden was able to track down the owner of the ball.

Luke, 41, told the Cambrian News about the discovery of the ball and how they were able to get in touch with the owner.

He said: “Myself and my daughter Summer, who is 10, were taking our cocker spaniel for her daily walk along Bailey Bridge Beach in Tywyn when my daughter said that she found a football.

“I posted a comment on Facebook asking if anyone had lost their ball.

“It was not until we got home that we realised that there was an address written on the ball itself.

“After adding another post on Facebook, my friend Jayne told me that the address was in Drogheda in Ireland.

“She sent me a message saying that she will try to find out who it belongs to. We were completely shocked that within six hours of sharing the post on a local selling page and our local sightseeing Facebook page Love Tywyn, the post had made its way back to the neighbour of the person who owned the ball, who said that his parents have told him that it had been found.”

He added: “I have never found anything like this before. I’ve been been amazed that we have found a today’s times version of the traditional message in a bottle.”

Jayne Burden, Luke’s friend, was shocked at how quickly they were able to find the owner of the ball.

She said: “Luke had posted that both him and his daughter had found a football whilst walking on the beach.

“When he saw that there was an address on it I suggested that it would be fantastic if we were able to find out who it belonged to.

“So, whilst having Sunday dinner, I posted to our town’s local selling page and then Tywyn’s sightseeing page Love Tywyn.

“I could not believe that within six hours from the initial post and over 500 shares we had found the owner.

“The power of Facebook is brilliant.”