An 88-year-old great-grandmother still receives a Christmas card every year from the German pen pal she has been writing to since she was 12. Sylvia Perkins, from Bermondsey, south-east London, started writing to Lisa Kull in Germany in 1948, while attending Monnow Road Girls’ School, as part of a school exchange after the Second World War.
While the other pupils in her class ended their correspondence after the project was completed, Mrs Perkins continued writing to Mrs Kull, who is now 89. Despite never speaking on the phone or meeting in person, they have shared life updates and maintained the tradition of sending Christmas cards for the last 76 years.
“We had this one English lesson where we were given this address, and we obviously wrote these letters, and I presume the school posted them,” Mrs Perkins told the PA news agency. “Then we were left to go our own way to keep it up and my mum encouraged me to keep writing.
“I can remember one Easter, my mum, who was a very smart dresser, bought this beautiful scarf for Lisa that we posted off at Easter. “At our age now it’s just Christmas cards.”. Mrs Perkins said she was the only one in her class who continued to write letters.
“I’m a stayer in that respect, and she must have been the same. “She must have the same sort of temperament as me and I value this.”. Mrs Perkins said although the school exercise was initiated as a result of the war, she and Mrs Kull never spoke about it.
