Penfriends who met on post-war exchange trip celebrate platinum wedding in Worthing

Freerk and Sheila de Vries were married in Romford on December 21, 1952, and have lived in Findon Valley since 1976.

Freerk came to England from Holland as a 16-year-old for a holiday in 1946 and got to know Sheila's family after meeting her brother on the train.

Sheila was 14 when they first met and after Freerk had returned home, the pair became penpals, writing regularly over the next few years.

Freerk said: "I came over to England with the school on a World Friendship holiday for a fortnight. It was basically to fatten us up after the war. We had been occupied by the Germans and we had all been starving."

Sheila explained quite a few children were brought over from Europe for recuperation after the Second World War and they stayed with various families.

She said: "My brother was on the train and got talking to the boys. He ended up showing them all around London. As a thank you, they invited him to their going-home party but he couldn't go, so my mother was invited instead.

"We went to see them off at the station. They were in all sorts of clothing that was strange to us. They all went off with pockets stuffed with cigarettes for their fathers and nylons for their mothers."

Details were exchanged and Sheila started getting letters from Freerk. He joined the Dutch Navy at the age of 17 and signed up for six years, working as a meteorologist, as well as serving on an aircraft carrier in air traffic control.

Sheila said: "I remember getting letters. He went to Indonesia and became like a penfriend. Then he came over to visit. It probably all started from there."

Writing letters helped them get to know each other and because they came from different countries, they had a lot of questions about each others' lives.

Sheila said: "He is my soulmate. We have had our arguments but we have lived through it. In those days I had to get permission to marry because I wasn't 21. We were married on December 21 and I was 21 on March 2, so it wasn't long after."

The vicar agreed to the wedding but they had to get married on a Sunday at 12pm, in between the usual Sunday services, and Freerk was given special leave for the occasion.

The couple decided to settle in England because it was easier to find a home here than in Holland. Freerk served a year in the Caribbean before leaving the Navy in 1953 and he said it was only because he was emigrating that he was allowed to go.

Once he was settled in England, Freerk was introduced to a Dutchman working at a nursery nearby and he managed to get a job there. Sheila said it was not possible for him to get a job in air traffic control because he was not born in England.

After working at the nursery for three years, Freerk got a job with the Essex Water Board and remained working there until he retired.

The couple have three sons, Mark, Andrew and Simon, plus seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. They have maintained a regular contact with Holland, visiting every year and bringing home Dutch treats whenever possible.

The family enjoyed a celebratory meal at The Ardington Hotel on the day of the anniversary, December 21, and a big party will be organised in the new year.