A retired school teacher from Croxley Green is hoping to return a project book given to him as a present more than 30 years ago.

David Flatau, who now lives in Devon, lived and taught in Hertfordshire for 25 years, first at Hillside JMI in Abbots Langley and then Yorke Mead School in Croxley Green.

It was at Yorke Mead that he was presented with a project book containing work on the Saxons, and a much admired poem, written by pupil Carolyn Higgins.

The 83-year-old-said: "Carolyn presented me with the book as a farewell gift but now, after 33 years, I would like to see it returned to her. I kept it because I liked it and used to show it to my friends but I'm getting older, and I looked at my shelves the other day and thought it was the right time to return the book to her.

"There is a section on Saxon churches and a poem which the headmaster asked for a signed copy of. It was so good I even wrote underneath, 'is this really your poem'?"

Mr Flatau was forced to retire from full-time teaching when he was 58 due to a hearing problem, but still worked in education part-time.

He keeps in touch with his former pupils on Facebook. Most are now parents themselves and one is working as a professor in Canada.

He is also well-known for his music, writing his first children's song Learn The Green Cross Code, after seeing a demonstration at Yorke Mead school about road safety.

Mr Flatau said he always enjoyed songwriting, but it was through teaching that he was inspired to write songs for the pupils.

He said: "The schoolchildren used to write beautiful, moving poetry. They really inspired me. For example, we did a class project on the Jurassic era and it inspired my song Dinosaur.

"When they liked a song, they used to sing it back to me in the playground."

The popularity of his songs grew over time, and songbooks and CDs of his compositions have been made.

He has also enjoyed internet success on YouTube, with some videos attracting more than 5,000 hits, and had his song, Choc Machine sung at Wembley Conference Centre in London by a choir of 1,000 schoolchildren.

Do you know Carolyn so that she can receive her book back? If so, let the newsdesk know on 01923 216295.