Earlier this month, a woman’s childhood Santa letter was discovered in the chimney of her old home, and this week memories have been brought back for another family.
The final Santa letter of a nine-year-old boy has been discovered, 50 years after his untimely death.
British man Ray Trench was looking through an old children’s encyclopaedia when he found his late brother Paul’s last letter to Father Christmas, lodged in between the pages.
The letter, scrawled in child’s handwriting, gives a startling insight into just how much times have changed since the year it was written, 1966.
Titled, ‘My Santa List’, the letter was shared with The Sunday People and featured modest requests for a Subbuteo game and “some buses and cars”. Tragically, Paul died the year after, having caught a ‘freak’ viral infection.
Sharing his story with the newspaper, brother Ray recalled: “One week Paul had a medical at school, and the next week he was gone.”
Commenting on this personal treasure, Ray observed: “What strikes me is how modest his requests were compared to the expectations of some of the ‘Veruca Salts’ of these days, and the ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’ culture.”
What an amazing memento from the past. We’re sure that Ray and his family will treasure this letter forever.
