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Missing message in a bottle found 60 years later during river clean

Missing message in a bottle found 60 years later during river clean

A message in a bottle sent between two young lovers nearly sixty years ago has been found by a group of river cleaners.

While cleaning up the Humber Estuary, volunteers for Barton RiverCare and Scunthorpe Litter Pickers spotted the bottle lying on the ground.

After opening the bottle, a letter written back in 1955 came out!

Jennifer Coleman and childhood friend Janet Blankley had written in the hopes of finding boyfriends nearly sixty years ago, asking them to write back.

The 15-year-olds were visiting family in South Ferriby, North Lincolnshire when they decided to search for love in a truly old-fashioned and romantic way.

The letters asked boys aged 16 to 18 to write back making sure to include a picture and hoped for the best.

The duo included their home addresses, signing them off “England”.

Barton RiverCare shared the exciting find on Twitter, writing: “OK, so this is huge!

“Volunteers for RiverCare found a message in a bottle this morning, from August 1966!

“Two messages in a single green glass bottles from 15 y.o. girls asking for messages back from boys (“over 16, under 18”). Both living in Grantham.

“Can we try and find the senders of this message in a bottle? J Coleman and J Blankley, then aged 15 and in Grantham. Bottle found at South Ferriby, North Lincolnshire.”

After conducting a widespread search on Facebook, Scunthorpe litter picker Tracey Marshall managed to track down Jennifer Coleman, one of the teenagers who sent the letters.

Metting via video call on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, Tracey told Jennifer about the terrific find and that the letters “had a strong smell of the Humber”.

Jennifer, who now lives in Australia, said she was “absolutely amazed” to be contacted with news of her teenage letter.

Contact Gi Scunthorpe News
Email us: scunthorpenews@gi-media.co.uk

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Ellie joined Gi Media in July 2021.