Postcard Arrives 33 Years Late

A computer boffin may be used to the term snail mail but even he was shocked at the speed of one bit of post which arrived at his home - 33 years late!

Software developer Mike Willstrop was left baffled by the Scottish summer greeting that popped through the letterbox at his home several hundred miles south in Surrey.

The scenic card,from Dingwall,Rosshire,carried a postmark which read September 2,1967,and the pre-decimal price of three old pence.

The colour postcard,addressed to Miss D Henman,features a couple fishing at the side of a loch.

Father-of-four Mt Willstrop said "It is not damaged and you can just about read the message,which is written in good English."

The card read "Gorgeous scenery here which Anthea and I are enjoying tremendously.Weather variable but generally fine.Love Heather".

Mr Willstrop's wife Beverley said she couldn't believe the age of the postcard when she spotted it lying among the usual morning pile of letters,junk mail and flyers.

"I picked it up off the mat with the rest of the post and had a quick look at it.

"It had our address on it but not our name,so it was obviously intended for people who have lived here before us.

"The name was not that of the people we bought the house off,so I was going to throw it away.

"I had quick look at the front of it and realised it was obviously quite ancient judging by the general design of it.

"That aroused my suspicions and when I turned it back over to look at the postmark I could hardly believe it.It said it was posted in 1967."

Mrs Willstrop,44,said the card was in very good condition considering its age and the distance it must have travelled from Scotland.

"Most postcards get a bit crumpled,but this one is in very good shape considering" she said.

"We had a word with our postman about it and he said he can remember putting it through the door.

"He told us he recognised the address,but not the name and did not think to look when it was sent.I think he was as surprised as us when we told him the next day."

According to the writing on the card,it was written at 6.30pm on September 2 1967 and sent on the same day.

The couple have been trying to trace the intended owner but have so far been unsuccessful.

"We are quite interested in the history of the house and have managed to find out how old it is and when the land was first registered.

"But finding the names of people who have lived here before us is proving quite difficult" said Mrs Willstrop.

"We moved in two years ago and the family who lived here before us had been here for about 12 years,so we obviously still have a lot of work to do if we are ever going to trace Miss Henman."

Their postman Peter Ordish said the card could have fallwn down the back of a desk at a sorting office between Scotland and England all those years ago and only been found recently and sent on.