In a heartwarming twist of fate, a Scottish woman has been reunited with a piece of her childhood more than three decades after casting it into the sea.
Alaina Beresford, now 42, from the coastal village of Portknockie in Moray, was just 12 years old when she sent a message in a bottle as part of a school project in 1994.
The handwritten note, sealed inside a Moray Cup fizzy drink bottle, was released into the sea by her teacher's husband, a fisherman at the time.
What she never expected was for the message to resurface 31 years later on a remote Norwegian island, Lisshelløya, part of the scenic Vega archipelago.
The bottle was discovered by Pia Brodtmann, a 27-year-old volunteer from Germany, who was taking part in a beach-cleaning project on the island.
Her handwritten letter said: "Dear finder. My name is Alaina Stephen and I am 12 years of age. I come from Portknockie and I am doing a project on water so I decided to send a message in a bottle.
"My teacher's husband took them and dropped them in the middle of the ocean.”
"When you find this message, please write back with your name, hobbies, where you found the message, when, and if you could, a little information about your area. Yours sincerely, Alaina Stephen. PS I come from Scotland."
Moved by the discovery, Alaina has received a postcard from Pia Brodtmann, telling her the good news, with pictures of the find.
It said: "My name is Pia and I am from Germany. Today I found your message in a bottle on Lisshelløya, a tiny island around Vega in Norway.”
"I am here for beach cleaning as a volunteer for four months and today we cleaned Lisshelløya. On the front of the postcard you can see our workboat Nemo and our sailboat Fonn, where we live. You can also see the area around Vega. I wonder when and where your teacher's husband threw your bottle in the ocean?"
It added: "PS I am 27 years old and I like rock climbing and sailing a lot!"
Alaina, now 42, said she was stunned when she picked up the post and noticed the postcard addressed to herself.
"I'm at the same address," she said.
"I did live in Buckie, and another house in Portknockie for a while, but moved back in with my parents.
"I couldn't believe it, as I had sent it when I was 12 years old, 31 years ago."
Alaina was able to find Pia via social media, and messaged her asking to send a photo of her letter.
"I was shocked when she did, I couldn't believe how legible it was," she said.
"I can't remember actually writing the message, but I do remember it was a Moray Cup bottle, and that my teacher's husband had dropped it into the sea when he was a fisherman.”
"According to my message, I had done it as part of a project on water. It was when I was in P7."
She added: "Pia and I have been keeping in touch and hopefully we will continue to do so."
Source:BBC
Bd-pratidin English/ ANI
