WHEN Joan Woodhouse plucked up the courage to send an old photograph to her former bridesmaid in a bid to rekindle their friendship after a disagreement almost 50 years ago, she got the wrong address and they may never have seen each other again.
But thanks to the Essex Chronicle and its readers, the pair enjoyed an emotional reunion and pledged to put their differences aside and make up for lost time.
Mrs Woodhouse, 82, of Braintree, had been looking through old pictures with her granddaughter, Sarah Jonasson, 40, who was visiting from Perth, Australia, when they stumbled across the old black and white picture of Patricia Sibbons, who was her bridesmaid on her wedding day.
"I told Sarah that she was a very dear friend that I missed very much, and had always wanted to get back in touch.
"So she printed off a copy on her computer and found what we thought was Pat's address on the internet and said to me 'there's nothing to stop you now'.
"I was unsure whether to send it," added Joan. "That was in August last year and I had put it off until New Year's Day.
"As far as I was concerned Pat had no way of contacting me, but I thought if I send the picture she would know that I am thinking of her.
"But it was the wrong address, and luckily the owner of the house knew the editor of the Essex Chronicle, and it just spiralled from there."
Mrs Woodhouse sent the picture with a short note that read: 'A memory from a happier time maybe? Happy New Year to you! From Joan.'
But it was sent to Paul and Glen Meyer's house of 37 years in Roxwell where Mrs Sibbons has never lived.
They contacted the Chronicle and we published the picture calling on our readers for help. We managed to track Patricia down, and when she was able to tell us who Joan was, we tracked her down too and arranged for them to meet up again.
Their relationship first blossomed in the 1940s in East Ham when they worked together on the Woolworths sweet counter.
But a disagreement, one which they both refuse to talk about, means they have not seen each other for nearly 50 years.
However, on Wednesday, Pat's husband Alan went to pick Joan up and brought her back to their home in Beech Rise, Hatfield Peverel, where Pat, 78, was waiting eagerly with a Chronicle reporter and photographer.
"It was quite emotional actually," said Joan, "We said to each other 'why has it taken so long?' " and Pat replied: "I don't really know, but we will soon put that right.
"We worked together every weekend at Woolworths," Joan reminisced, "She was my Saturday girl. I took to her so much that when I got married I asked her to be my bridesmaid."
Joan was married at Emmanuel Church, in Forest Gate, in 1952 to her late husband Tom Woodhouse. They even named one of their two children after Pat.
But in 1961 Joan moved to Braintree, where she still lives today, and Pat only visited once before their disagreement.
Pat said: "I was busy bringing up my son, Jonathan, 51, and carrying on with my business and doing everything you do in young life. We lost contact but now that is definitely not going to happen again."
Pat, who has twice beaten cancer, has had to give up driving because a condition means she has lost sight in her left eye, but she plans to visit Joan regularly.
She said: "We have so much to catch up, Joan has yet to see any of the family, I had no children or grandchildren back then.
"It'll be lovely to have someone to go shopping with rather than traipsing round with my husband – he's very good but he hates shopping."
