DURING his Kington childhood, piano tuner Martin Backhouse helped his father collect gold dust for smelting not knowing that he was destined to unearth the biggest hoard of gold coins ever discovered in Britain.

The story of 61-year-old Mr Backhouse's startling find has been splashed across the world as far afield as China and the Ukraine, and relatives in Australia have called to congratulate him having seen him on TV.

"I thought I was losing my voice after so many phone calls," he joked this week.

A retired Kington teacher, who worked on the staff at Lady Hawkins' School with Mr Backhouse's late father, metalwork teacher Harold, has greeted the revelation as a "good news story" for the town.

The 933 coins came to light last November while Mr Backhouse was cleaning an upright piano donated to Bishop's Castle Community College three months' earlier.

Now Shropshire coroner John Ellery has ruled that the find, believed to be worth £500,000, is treasure.

It is likely that the value, to be determined by the Treasure Valuation Committee, will be divided between the college and Mr Backhouse.

Though he lives in Newtown, he grew up at the family home on Bradnor Hill at Kington with his three brothers and their parents, Harold and Daisy, who taught at the former Norton Canon Primary School.

He said the find was like "something from an Enid Blyton book".

During his 45-year career as a piano tuner he has only found two silver pocket watches.

The Broadwood piano holding the secret hoard of coins had been standing in the foyer at the college for three months, having been donated by previous owners Graham and Meg Hemmings.

"The piano had been stuck in the foyer for three months when I went in to tune it," said Mr Backhouse.

He said it was "quite a moment" when he found the first of eight cloth bags containing the haul.

The sight of so much gold reminded him of travelling to Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter with his father to collect gold dust for smelting back in his high-temperature furnace in the workshop at Kington.

"We brought it back in a biscuit tin, I can remember feeling the gold dust, and became fascinated by gold."

The find has led to painstaking research into the history of the piano conducted by Peter Reavill, the finds liaison officer for Shropshire and Herefordshire assisted by Mr Backhouse.

"It's very unusual to make a find of this size, but I wouldn't like to do it too often!" said Mr Backhouse.

He plans to return to the area to collect an old piano once used in a Kington Operatic Society production of Murder in Mercia in 1971.

"We used to take it in our family Volkswagen dormobile for performances," he said. "I'm hoping to take the piano to a trade association seminar."

Former deputy head at Lady Hawkins' School, Allan Lloyd said Martin's parents would have been delighted at their son's news. "They would have been very proud," he said. "They really supported him in his interest in the piano. They were Kingtonians through and through and lived here all their working lives. They were such homely parents, they loved the family."

He continued: "This is such a good story for Kington, and a lovely story for me as a history teacher!"