The picture - kindly supplied by former Hills worker and regular reader Richard Arbuckle - appeared in the Sentinel last month. It has since travelled halfway across the world to Truro, Nova Scotia, on the far eastern flank of the Canadian mainland, where former Londonderry resident Sammy Riddles managed to spot himself and his brother David captured for posterity alongside the rest of the Hills staff in all their sepia-toned glory.
Mr Riddles takes up the story: "My niece, who lives in Limavady, sent me a picture of the Hills staff that appeared in the Sentinel on March 18. I was on the second row from the back with my brother David.
"I had recently returned from service in the Royal Air Force after a seven year stint - I'm still wearing part of my uniform - and I was fortunate to get a job at Hills painting army beds in different colours that sold for a pound. Before my enlistment I worked at Biggers on Foyle Street and left in 1939 to join up at seventeen."
Mr Riddles joined the RAF just before the outbreak of the Second World War and worked as a mechanic servicing and refuelling aircraft.
His stint in the RAF involved him working on the famous Hawker Typhoon - Britain's most successful ground-attack plane - affectionately known as the Tiffy amongst servicemen.
Mr Riddles worked in Holland during the war and survived sustained bombing by the Luftwaffe - the culmination of which was the devastating Rotterdam Blitz - which flattened the major port. He was lucky to survive a bombardment on one occasion when six planes were destroyed on a landing strip nearby. Despite this scare he was soon back on safer ground at Hills after the allied victory.
"My job at Hills did not last long because I ran out of beds to paint so I decided to return to England where I found a job spray-painting appliances on a production line in Liverpool.
"I left Liverpool in February, 1956, and emigrated to Canada, continuing in the painting trade in Ontario. It was there that I got involved in local football. In 1957 organising the youth level of the game I became a coach and a referee," explained Mr Riddles.
Getting involved in local football is something of an understatement it seems - at least if the assessment of Mississauga Sports Council is anything to go by.
According to the Council: "Sam Riddell is considered as the Grand Father of organized soccer in Mississauga - and rightly so.
"There was no youth soccer to speak of - there wasn't even a Mississauga on the map - when Sam planted the first seed.
"By the time Mississauga got around to induct him into its Sports Hall of Fame on June 3, 2004, the once cozy Township of Toronto has become the sixth largest city in Canada and the seed Sam the Soccer Man planted five decades earlier has grown into a blossoming success as Mississauga's most popular youth sport."
Intriguingly Sammy goes by the surname Riddell in Canada hence Mississauga Sports Council's misspelling above. As he explained: "The RAF altered my name slightly! From Riddles to Riddell. So, I go by Riddell on my legal ID papers."
Mr Riddles has long since left Toronto and now resides in the eastern state of Nova Scotia. It was here he was pleased to receive a copy of the Sentinel's St Patrick's Day edition, which brought memories of the good old times in the old country flooding back.
"I moved to Nova Scotia in 1990 where I now live. Whilst at Hills my son was born at the City and County hospital at the top of Asylum Road on April 13, 1947.
"It is nice to see that the Sentinel is still going and still reporting the news. As I recall there was another paper called the Standard.
"I retired from football last year after fifty two years as an active referee. I still instruct at clinics but at fifty-seven I leave all the running to the younger people.
"I have great memories of my growing up years in Derry in the thirites. Times were tough and jobs were hard to come by. I have been back to Derry a few times and notice it hasn't changed a lot over the years. I'm the last surviving member of my family.
"I hope to be in Belfast on May 25 on a cruise ship - the MS Rotterdam - that will visit the city for one day. From there it goes to Liverpool where I spent a few years. The other ports of call are Southern Ireland, Plymouth, Le Havre, Dover and Rotterdam.
"I doubt if I will have time to visit Derry on the trip, but who knows what the future holds in years to come. No matter where you go in the world you will always run into someone from Derry. They seem to be scattered like seeds in the wind.
"I remember meeting a fellow in Hastings - a seaside town on the south coast of England - I met him at the railway station. Someone from Fountain Street. We mentioned that we intended to visit Derry.
"And he suggested we could stay at his house and offered us the keys. I declined as I did not wish to take the responsibilty for someone's home. I often wondered if he was serious or just pulling my leg.
"I'm sorry, I can't help name those (in the picture) Mr Arbuckle couldn't name, as I was there only a matter of months. I guess a number have passed away.
"Thank you for printing the picture. It brought back memories of the good old days."
Do you have any old photographs or memories of Londonderry in times past?
Contact the Sentinel on 02871341173 or visit the website at www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk.