Love letters returned to long-lost friends

When Ron Beard, 88, answered a knock on the door of his Timaru home this week he received a major surprise.

He was reunited with expressions of love he had written to his wife, Olive Beard, 84, more than 40 years ago.

Jenny and Al Mumford, of Wellington, had brought Ron an old cardboard box containing the cards and letters written to Olive.

But Ron didn’t recognise the couple on his doorstep. ‘‘I wondered who the hell it was,’’ he said, smiling. The Mumfords had been friends of the Beards but lost contact long ago.

Al Mumford, 69, a carpenter, said he met English-born Ron, a painter, in 1979 on a building site in Bewbush, Crawley, England.

‘‘Ron had a very long face; he was miserable. He was not long back from New Zealand and wanted to return there.’’

Al had spent time in New Zealand, where he met and married Jenny. With their connection to New Zealand the two men and their wives struck up a friendship.

‘‘We used to live in a 300-year-old house owned by Al’s brother,’’ Jenny Mumford, 70, said. ‘‘They would come around for dinner.’’

However, the Beards, both originally from Brighton in England, decided to return to New Zealand.

‘‘They had all their stuff packed ready to leave in a week but didn’t have enough room for the box of cards and letters,’’ Jenny said.

‘‘Olive said, ‘Would you mind bringing the box back to New Zealand when you come, and we’ll get it back off you?’ We returned to New Zealand and couldn’t find them.’’

Keeping faith with their old friends, however, the Mumfords held onto the box wherever they went. ‘‘We shifted homes about three times, from Silverstream to Petone and Upper Hutt.’’

Jenny always wondered what had happened to the Beards. Then she made a discovery.

‘‘I was watching Breakfast [on] TV, and they said, ‘Today is Ron and Olive’s 65th wedding anniversary.’ I heard that they met in a ballroom in Brighton. It connected. Then they showed a photo. That’s definitely Olive, I thought. We knew then what town they were in.’’

That town was Timaru. A search of the electoral rolls and Jenny’s detective work paid off. The Mumfords found the address.

Jenny and Al dusted off Ron’s ‘‘love box’’ and decided to pop in with a surprise visit to the Beards while on a visit to the South Island for a grandson’s 21st this week.

It was a bolt out of the blue for the Beards. ‘‘Al said, ‘Here’s a delivery from Crawley, West Sussex, for you. It’s a bit late.’ ’’

JOHN BISSET/STUFF Olive and Ron Beard, left, with their old friends Jenny and Alan Mumford, who made a surprise visit from Wellington this week to deliver cards and letters Ron had written to Olive many years ago.