Pen pals' letters keep friendship alive for more than 50 years

A FRIENDSHIP of more than 50 years has been kept alive with letters between a Weymouth woman and her pen pal who lives hundreds of miles away.

Lynda Kjolaf, 75, from Weymouth, met Jan Oliver when they both trained to be teachers in Durham in the 1970s and decided to become pen pals.

They have only met in person twice after graduating - but have kept in touch through letters written to one another every month for 50 years.

Jan is originally from Yorkshire and now lives in Northumberland.

Recently the pair met up in person in Jan's home town and celebrated a long distance friendship which has stayed strong through the many hundreds of letters sent to one another.

Lynda said: "We were at a teacher training college together where we met and had a good friendship.

"The college was the Middlesex and St George College which is no longer there anymore.

"Since then we have kept in touch through writing letters, we have never once sent an email or a text to one another.

"We met once before for a couple of hours about 30 years ago, but recently we went and met up again.

"My husband and I have a motorhome and we went up to Northumberland to visit her.

"It was the second time in 50 years, we met at a local pub and had a fantastic evening, she hasn't changed a bit, it was just like old times.

"I am a Weymouth girl, I was born here and then retired here but she is a proper Yorkshire girl with a brilliant sense of humour.

Lynda said she will continue to write the letters out of the pure joy she gets from it.

She added: "We both love writing, maybe it is because of our age, we had no computers growing up.

"It is that feeling of putting pen on paper, it is joyful.

"At a time when the cost of stamps are going up and post deliveries are becoming less frequent, I don't think there are many people still writing letters.

"I get so much pleasure out of writing, it won't ever leave me."