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17-hour flight, bus ride and 48 years to see penpal

Barbara Canning
20/11/2002

WHEN Margaret Shaw first put pen to paper she never expected it would end in a dream holiday to Australia nearly 50 years later.

After 48 years, a 17-hour flight and an all-day bus ride Margaret finally laid eyes on Betty Wilson - the friend she has never met but has been writing to for all these years.

"It was a little strange and I was quite emotional but I didn't want to cry because I felt a bit daft," Margaret said.

She added: "She was great it was just as though I've known her all my life which I have - just through writing."

Margaret said the pair began writing to each other when they were at school in 1954, after Betty picked her name from a list of possible pen friends.

But despite regular letters, phone calls and, more recently, emails, the two friends had never met until Margaret, and her husband Peter, flew over to Australia this summer for a three month tour.

"We never stopped talking," she said. "We're even closer now we've met."

She added that despite tours of Adelaide, Sydney and Cairns - the best part of the holiday was when they went on a three-day boat trip around the Whitsunday islands, which are just miles from Betty's Arlie Beach home.

"It was worth every penny and every bit of planning we did. We've waited such a long time to go and I can't wait to go back. I haven't been able to settle and keep looking at the photos and we have been sending two or three text messages a day to each other."

Margaret, from Hyde is hoping she will be able to return the favour as Betty and her husband Andy plan to visit England next summer.