A heartwarming tribute to priceless friendships
In response to the letters on long friendships (19 March), I wouldn’t dare to claim a record, but Bob and I have known each other since 1943. We’re 86 this year and have both been loyal readers of the (Manchester) Guardian since our teens. I even had a letter published once – nowhere near the output of my namesake Keith Flett (no relation as far as I know). When Bob and I started school, there were air raid shelters in the playground and regular air raid practices. We went right through the same school together, but our paths diverged from university onwards. We now live 300 miles apart but have kept in touch over the years and had our annual meeting only a few weeks ago. If you read this, Bob, all the best, and thanks for your 80 years of friendship.
Jim Flett
Knutsford, Cheshire
• Aged 11, I joined a direct grant grammar school in Dulwich as a scholarship girl in 1944. Totally overawed and bewildered, I didn’t know where to go or what to do. Then Mary came along – she had been in the junior school from the age of eight – and “took charge”. We remained joined at the hip for the next seven years. After sixth form we parted: Mary was married by age 20 and had a life of domesticity (and babies) while I was a university student. But our friendship never faltered. We shared all the usual joyous celebrations (including golden weddings), and then widowhood. At age 88, she was very fit (I was less so) and on our regular outings to National Trust gardens she would push me round in a wheelchair. Our planned weekend together to celebrate my birthday was scuppered by the constraints of the pandemic. It was never to be. She died in 2021, and so ended 77 unbroken years of friendship.
Margaret Westwood
Guildford, Surrey
• Amid all the doom and gloom in the world, I was greatly cheered by reading the heartwarming letters about long-term friendships, so may I celebrate mine with the lovely Alison Martin, who I first knew at Coleraine high school in the 1970s. Although I moved away, and we had no contact for about 35 years, she came back into my life about 11 years ago after I was widowed, and has been a source of joy, support, laughter and encouragement ever since; while we have different views on some things, our discussions are always amicable.
Unfortunately, in 2020 she and her husband moved to Enfield in London to become hands-on grandparents, but she comes home frequently, and we also message and Zoom each other. On Sunday, she shared Mother’s Day with me on what would otherwise have been a challenging day. Good friends are priceless.
Sharman Finlay
Portrush, County Antrim
• I met Marjorie in 1950 at the age of four – no living person has known me longer. In 1957, we started secondary school where we met Wendy, Lyn, Jill, Sue, Judy and Barbara. Since 1996 we have been meeting for a two-day break twice a year. Covid prevented this in 2020 and 2021, but we began monthly meetings on Zoom – a pattern that is now established. We are looking forward eagerly to our next time away in May, when there may be some chatter about how to celebrate our 80th year in 2026.
Thelma Probert
Birmingham
• Not having met until the ripe old age of 11, my friend and I, now both 92, have been constantly in touch for 81 years. Now unable to travel, we spend an hour or so on our landlines each week, putting the world to rights (we wish).
Aileen Taylor
Trowbridge, Wiltshire
