The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Message in a bottle find leaves family stunned
Note back with owner’s relatives after 83 years
A message in a bottle which lay undiscovered for 83 years has incredibly found its way back to the original owner’s family.
Construction workers were transforming a building six months ago when they came across the bottle and subsequently handed it into the Living Memories Association (LMA) based in Edinburgh.
Not long after this, Laurence Reid, 90, attended the museum to donate old tools.
He then got chatting to Miles Tubb, a project worker at the LMA who showed Laurence the bottle with the message inside it.
The reaction from Laurence, however, made the hair on the back of Miles’ neck stand up.
The note read: “This shop taken over by St Cuthbert’s Co-op Association and altered by Flying Squad.”
And it was signed: “N Reid, J Reid and W Barclay.”
“Would you believe it, but Laurence instantly recognised the names,” said Mr Tubbs.
Unbelievably, the people mentioned in the note were Laurence’s dad Neil, brother John and brother-in-law Wullie – they were known as joinery team The Flying Squad.
It turned out the team had been transforming the building on St Peter’s Place into a St Cuthbert’s Co-operative when Willie Barclay scribbled the brief note and stuffed it in a bottle.
The bottle was then hidden in a wall where it has lain untouched until now.
Laurence’s sister Frances married Willie and the couple had son James, who said the family had been stunned by the discovery.
He said: “It must have been the first time in 80 years the building was renovated.
“When he was shown the note, my Uncle Laurence was gobsmacked. He knew the three names in it – Neil Reid was his father, John Reid his brother, and Willie Barclay his brother-in-law, who is my father.”
Frances died last year aged 98 and James said it was a shame his mother would never learn of the discovery.
He said: “It is sad that my mother isn’t alive to see all this. I am gobsmacked that not only has it been found, but by a coincidence, it has made its way back to me.”
To add another twist to the astonishing tale, the shop where the bottle was discovered was once managed by Tom Barclay – James’ paternal uncle.
Laurence was overwhelmed by the find.
“He welled up,” said Mr Tubb. “The hairs on the back of my neck went up and we all had tears in our eyes.”