Pen-friends to meet

Press, 8 December 1976, Page 20

Pen-friends to meet

London | Two women, one in NewZealand and one in England,! : who began writing to each! ;other 30 years ago will meet! face to face for the firstj time this Christmas, writes j an N Z.P.A. correspondent. The correspondence be-' tween Mrs Rie Fletcher of! St Heliers, Auckland, and! Mrs Grace Hayden of the< 9»uth-west London suburb, I Chiswick, began in 1946 when Mrs Fletcher (then Miss Rie Forrester) decided , to help rationed Britons by I sending food parcels. A cubscout, she wrote to the British headquarters of the I Scout Association, asking 'for the name of someone to whom she could send the food. Mrs Hayden, who then worked for the association, was the chosen one and after the first food parcel arrived. the two women began writing. The food parcels continued for three or four years, but the correspondence has con-1 tinued ever since. Next ! week, Mrs Hayden and her husband. Ted, an executive commissioner for the Scout I Association, will leave for! Auckland and their first! meeting with Mrs Fletcher. ; Thev will spend Christmas! with Mr and Mrs Fletcher l

and then tour the North Island together. Mr Hayden will take the opportunity to discuss business at scout headquarters in Wellington. “It’s the holiday of a lifetime.” Mr Hayden said. “My ■ wife and Mrs Fletcher will probably chat and gossip all! the time. They have shared a lot of life together through; their letters and have grown up and had families. It’s! amazing what they know! about each other without having actually met,” he! said. The closest personal contact was a few years ago when Mrs Fletcher’s mother went to Britain and spent a couple of days with the 1 Haydens. Both women were origi-i nally in the cub-scout move-' rnent, in those days still i called the Wolf Cubs. Mrs Hayden worked for the scout association until 19531 when she was married, but she still retains a voluntary! interest. “Thev decided at an! early stage not to write too! often because they knew; that sooner or later interest I would wane,” Mr Hayden, said. “They decided it was ! better to write only two or! three times a year and that way, neither would tire of! it. When it started, we never! bream’d they would meet,! he said.