posted February 24, 2011 02:46 AM            

BRITISH man Richard Morwood discovered his girlfriend was the same girl whose message in a bottle he answered 30 years ago, The Sun reported today.

Mandy English was just 13 when she hurled the note requesting a pen pal into the sea during a 1979 school visit to Scotland.

Two years later, Morwood - then just six years old - spotted the glass bottle on the beach and sent a reply by postcard.

English never wrote back, but while sorting through keepsakes last week, she found the 1981 card and realised its sender had the same name as Morwood, her boyfriend since June.

She asked Morwood, 36, of Hull in northern England, if he remembered the message in the bottle - and it suddenly dawned on them that they had "met" before.

"It was amazing. I then realised he was the little lad who sent me that lovely postcard all those years ago. I was so shocked I nearly passed out. It's crazy that it was Richard who wrote to me," said English, now a 44-year-old mother of three.

Morwood added, "When Mandy asked if I remembered sending a postcard, I said I had a vague recollection of finding the message, then my mum coaxing me into writing back. I couldn't believe it when Mandy told me she was the one who had put the message in the bottle. It's bizarre."

posted February 24, 2011 02:48 AM            

Two years later Richard, then just six, spotted the glass bottle on the beach and sent a reply by postcard.

Mandy never wrote back because of the age difference.

But while sorting through keepsakes last week, she found the 1981 card and realised its schoolboy sender had the same name as Richard, her boyfriend since last June.

She asked the road maintenance worker, now 36, if he remembered the message in the bottle - and it suddenly dawned on them that they had "met" before.

Mandy, now a 44-year-old mum of three, said: "It was amazing. I then realised he was the little lad who sent me that lovely postcard all those years ago. I was so shocked I nearly passed out.

"It's crazy that it was Richard who wrote to me. It's not like we've lived all our lives near each other. We grew up hundreds of miles apart."

Richard, from Motherwell, found the message on the shore during a family holiday at Carradale in Argyll, Scotland.

He moved to Hull, East Yorks, in 2003 and by pure chance met Mandy, of nearby Beverley, with neither aware of their '80s childhood encounter.

Richard said: "When Mandy asked if I remembered sending a postcard, I said I had a vague recollection of finding the message, then my mum coaxing me into writing back.

"I couldn't believe it when Mandy told me SHE was the one who had put the message in the bottle. It's bizarre.

"We definitely think fate brought us together. The most amazing thing is that in 1981 I signed off 'Love Richard' - and, now she's my girlfriend, I really do love her."

Richard's postcard has a picture of the Isle of Arran on the front - and is penned in childish handwriting.

It is addressed to "Miss Mandy English, Beverley, East Yorkshire", postmarked "Motherwell & Wishaw, 11 June 1981", and has an 11½p stamp.

On it, Richard wrote: "Dear Mandy I found your letter in the bottle at Skipness, Mull of Kintyre near where the boat comes in from Lochranza last week when I was on holiday at Carradale.

"I am 6 years old. Love Richard."

Healthcare worker Mandy, who has two daughters and a son by a previous partner, said: "I thought about writing back, but he was a lot younger than me so I didn't.

"I completely forgot about him and only kept the card because I like to collect them. Then this happened!"

Daughter Rachel, 20, said: "It's incredible. No one would ever have guessed."