He is hoping to reunite the Second World War sergeant Sheffield cricket cap with his family

A cricket club is hoping to reunite a cap belonging to a player who was killed in World War II with his family.

Norton Woodseats Cricket Club found the cap which belonged to Geoffrey Slater, a Sergeant-Observant in the RAF, while clearing their old ground.

Sgt Slater was one of a crew of five who were deployed on a bombing raid on Osnabrück, Germany on 6 October 1942, from which they never returned.

The Sheffield club said they hoped they could trace members of Sgt Slater’s family.

Club member Abbas Shah said he made the discovery while clearing out their old grounds at Graves Park as part of their move to Matthews Lane.

“When we met we thought it would be so nice if we could try to track down Geoffrey’s family members, see if they are still around locally, nationally or internationally and invite them to the club,” he said. Shah said.

According to a description found with the canvas cap, Sergeant Slater was born on September 13, 1920 and was 22 when he died.

He was killed along with Sergeant John Forbes, Sergeant George William Rhodes, Sergeant Walter John Howes and Sergeant John Forman after their aircraft was shot down over the Dutch village of Slagharen.

Sgt Slater, who lived at 1 Backmoor Crescent in Norton, attended High Storrs Grammar School and was a Sunday school teacher at Greenhill Church.

Commonwealth War Graves archive records show that he was the son of Harold and Ivy Marie Slater, of Sheffield, and was buried at Hardenberg Protestant Cemetery in the Netherlands.

An entry for Sgt Slater on the Find A Grave website features a photo believed to be him, which the BBC is trying to verify.

Norton Woodseats Cricket Club chairman Dave Colegate said the process of trying to find Sgt Slater’s relatives was “only at the beginning”.

“One of the interesting facts is the address,” he said.

“1 Backmoor Crescent is 200 meters from where we moved our pitch, so it’s a bit like the Titanic and the iceberg don’t know anything about each other until they collide.”

He added: “It’s better than souvenirs.

“It gives us an opportunity to take our hats off and thank him and the thousands of people like him who have allowed us to be where we are and do what we do.”