Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
True love stories
‘Tis the season for love and family – and also a lot of wrapping. We’ve been reading about pen pals recently in the paper, and one reader, Debbie Richens in Bromley, South East London, wooed her husband with a well-crafted letter… I joined a pen pal club in 1996 and met my now-husband Ken, who was also a member.
I lived in Anerley, in London, not far from where we are now, and Ken lived in Mitcham, Surrey, and although that’s not far from me, it just felt right writing to him.
At the time, a friend of mine – knowing I enjoyed writing – suggested I try the advertising paper Loot as her son had got pen pals from there.
The paper’s pen pals were too young for me but I also noticed a group called Margaret’s Special Pen Pal club.
Once you joined, you received a list of members together with their interests and a bit about each person.
You’d then write to them, care of the club, by putting their membership number on the back of the envelope and the club would forward your letter to that person.
One member called Rachel had listed “trying to diet” under her hobbies which made me laugh, and I instantly knew we’d hit it off, so I wrote to her too. We now email each other all the time or speak on the phone.
She and Ken were two of 12 people I chose to write to – this was in May 1996. Our relationship as pen pals developed into friendship and then romance and we married in June 1999.
I think that because of the way technology has advanced so much and that people are so busy, people just don’t send letters to each other any more, but I’m sure that children, especially, would be thrilled to receive a letter in the post.
The current photo of us was taken in the Royal Hotel in Weymouth in September this year – Ken is 58 and I am 63.
“We’ll be celebrating our silver wedding in two years’ time!
“Time has flown.”
We’d love to hear how you and your partner met? Tell all to siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk