Holly Burgoyne, a fine art student at Leeds Metropolitan University, got more than she bargained for when she bought a box of books in an auction last summer. In fact the purchase led her across the Channel on a quest to discover the people, and their stories, behind 15 old black and white negatives she found tucked away in an envelope at the bottom of the box.

By her own admission Holly is enchanted by photographs and what they represent. "I'm interested in the concept and themes of lost identity and narratives within photography. I'm particularly fascinated by portrait photography, and the history and stories that accompany the individual being photographed."

So who better to make this discovery? From the first photograph she developed in her darkroom, an image of a young girl posing for the camera in a street, Holly was captivated. The activity behind the girl hinted at an army camp or base and the name "Annie" was written on the envelope. The second negative developed revealed two other young girls in the same street.

The writing on the envelope raised a possible explanation; it read "Dutch kiddies at Helmam". And with this small of piece information Holly started the task of tracking down the place and the girls. A map showed a Dutch town called Helmond, rather than Helmam, and through further research Holly found that the town had had quite a strong army presence through the Second World War, a fact that corresponded with the rest of the negatives, which pictured soldiers and army vehicles.

"I found myself wondering who they were and what situation they'd been in. To hopefully try to answer these questions I did something quite rash," admitted Holly.

"I booked a holiday to Helmond. At the time this seemed like the logical thing to do but looking back at it now I appreciate that this was quite a big risk as it was purely based on a 'hunch'."

Following enquiries at the local archives' office and directions to the pictured street Holly felt her quest had ground to a shuddering halt until she met by chance a man in a graveyard who was able to help.

"I showed him the photographs and explained that I was looking for the place in which they were taken. He seemed to 'ponder' over the photographs for a moment and went into his little office. He came out shortly with a newspaper, the "Eindhovens Dagblad", in which my photographs were printed.

"For a split second I was confused but then I remembered a few weeks prior to my trip I had emailed the local newspaper the photographs to enquire whether they had any useful suggestions. Without my knowledge they had printed the photographs and asked for anyone with information to come forward.