GEOFF Wilkinson was amazed when a letter from a long lost friend - who emigrated to Australia 20 years ago - landed on his mat this week.

Mr Wilkinson, of Bridge Lane, Ilkley, was featured in the paper on January 15 with his diary of the town which spans three decades.

And a copy of the paper winged its way to his former work mate, Ronnie Young, 68, who moved down under to New South Wales in the late 1970s.

The 78-year-old said: "Some of Ronnie's relations still live in Ilkley and send him copies of the Gazette. He saw the story about me and decided to write after all these years. It's the first letter I've had since he went away and it's wonderful to hear from him.

"We used to work at Listers Mill together until it closed down in 1975 and shortly after that he moved away. I was amazed to hear from him after all this time and his letter is full of memories of when we used to work together."

Now Mr Wilkinson is penning a reply to his mate which he hopes to send to him with a copy of this week's paper.

"I won't go and visit him but we will definitely be keeping in touch by letter," added Mr Wilkinson.

l In our picture, Geoff Wilkinson displays the five page letter he has received from Australia after an article appeared in the Ilkley Gazette.

(WOKB28)

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.