A 1m-long time capsule buried underneath the Thomas Forman printing works in Nottingham has been unearthed after 38 years. The sealed copper box was buried in 1963 by staff.

The capsule contains brochures, Players cigarette packets, calendars and racing tickets, which were all printed on-site in 1963.

The firm began operations on the site in 1926, and was part of BPC before the 1998 merger with Watmoughs that created Polestar, but it closed in October 1998 with the loss of 136 jobs after the loss of half of Polestars Heinz label contract to Dutch firm Royal Sens.

Ex-Thomas Forman sales administrator Howard Parker was on-site with colleague Noel Marshall when Concept Project Management unearthed the capsule as part of demolition work for a 15m housing development on the 21-acre site. Formans landmark 88ft-high brick chimney was demolished last week.

The capsule will now be taken to Nottingham City Councils archive department for an official opening on 6 November.

"We hope the material will be deposited here in the archive for people to use, although there is some talk of it being buried again for another 100 years!" said chief archivist Adrian Henstock.

Story by Fay Schopen