Two Men Exchange The Same Christmas Card For 43 Years

Two retired postal workers have been sending each other a Christmas card for more than 40 years - but refuse to send it through the post in case it gets lost.

On the face of it, that doesn't sound too strange - it's nice to see friends keeping in touch after such a long time. But they don't just send each other a Christmas card, they have been sending the exact same one that they have been for over four decades.

Ex-Royal Mail workers Raymond Pearson, 78, and Steve Ford, 59, take it in turns to hand deliver it to the the greeting card to the other, with a new message written inside.

And trying to keep things interesting each year, the two mates make sure every message rhymes with the one before, and over the years they have included 'Over to You in '92' and 'The Saving is Mine in '79'.

SWNS

Ray said: "Each year it is a short message, and we try and think of something rhyming.

"This year it's quite weird - but that's Steve.

"It says: 'It's Christmas time 2019, the card is making news, may your year be full of tidings bright and devoid of any blues'."

The pair started the quirky tradition way back in 1975 when Raymond, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, first sent the Santa Claus card to Steve, who decided to post it back to him as a joke.

Little did they know this would carry on every Christmas for the next 43 years, and have hand-delivered the card every year for fear it would get lost or damaged in the post.

SWNS

Steve said: "We both used to work for the Royal Mail.

"In 1975, I was in personnel, Steve was a cadet. We both had similar interests in motorcycles and films, and I sent him a Christmas card.

"The following year he sent it back to me. I thought, 'We are going to play silly beggars, are we?' and sent it back to him.

"Once we started, we had to carry on. It didn't really cross our minds we would be doing it for 43 years."

He added: "We just kept on doing it."

Steve, of Kingswinford, West Midlands, said: "I just thought it'd be funny to keep [the card], take it to him next year and see his face, if he remembers the card - and then the swine sent it back to me.

"We're running out of space to write inside the card and we may be on the back cover next year."

Topics: UK News, Interesting

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom