What may be part of daily life during one decade, can be a fascinating insight into past times to people living decades later, and these old receipts are just that.

Whoever owned them, simply stuffed them into a hole to plug a gap in the wall back in the 1920s.

But 60 years on, Peter Grant spied them and saved them simply because he found them interesting.

Mr Grant, who still lives in Maidstone, was part of a team gutting Linfield House, behind the present Haynes site in Ashford Road, Maidstone.

He said: “We gutted it right out and made it into offices. I was pulling an old bit of wood out and they were wedged behind there. I placed them in an old folder and put them under the stairs because I love old things and I don’t like to throw anything away.”

center>Important announcements

He sent them in to the KM after reading our coverage of our 150th anniversary this year.

The invoices include one from the Kent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph, dating from 1918 to Earl Street Unitarian Church for handbills and window sills.

The invoice includes the name of the KM’s proprietor, BP Boorman, and reads: “The Kent Messenger is the only paper selected by the Kent County Council for many of its most important announcements.”

Another Mr Grant revealed was from Ambrose & Son drapers and house furnishers, which was based on the corner of Gabriel’s Hill and King Street.

All the invoices are in “old money” before decimalisation. Mr Grant said: “Whoever put them in there used them to pack out a hole. It’s 28 years since I found them. I like the money on them and what they’re for. I thought the one from the Kent Messenger would be of interest for your 150th anniversary.”

There was also a handwritten one for the Old Palace in Maidstone and one from Basketts Ltd in Week Street, Maidstone.

• Do you remember these old Maidstone firms? Write to The Way We Were, 6 & 7 Middle Row, Maidstone, ME14 1TG or email messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk