TRANSATLANTIC pen-pals celebrated half a century of correspondence by meeting at the Richmond home of one of them.

Elaine Wood and Lynda Cole began writing to each other when they were eight years old and members of girl guide and girl scout packs.

"We were both working towards a pen-pal badge and our leaders got some names and put us together and we have been friends ever since," said Mrs Cole, from Minnesota, who has been staying at Mrs Wood's home off The Green, in Richmond, since Sunday.

More than 500 letters have crossed the Atlantic in the last 50 years and the pair met in America to mark their 25th "anniversary". They still send hand-written letters in spite of the growth of e-mail.

The two families have become firm friends, and Mrs Cole's son, Jason, spent weekends with Mrs Wood and her husband, Brian, while he was on teaching practice at Kirkbymoorside several years ago.

As children, the pen-pals both loved reading and went on to become primary school teachers. Both have taken early retirement.

"As girls we would write about once a month and we used to send little gifts back and forth," recalled Mrs Cole, whose husband, Steve, has accompanied her on her visit.

"My father worked at the post office and he used to take my letter to Elaine to mail it. We had probably been writing for 15 or 20 years before we spoke on the telephone.

"I never had a sister and always wanted one so I feel that, in Elaine, I have one."

Mrs Wood, former headteacher at Rosehill Infants' School, Stockton, has travelled to the US about five times in the intervening years and this is Mrs Cole's third visit to England.

"When I visited Lynda's school I was struck by how confident and articulate the seven-year-olds were when talking to adults," said Mrs Wood, who comes originally from Scotland and has lived in Richmond for 17 years. "The huge American refrigerators were also quite an eye-opener.

"I was very lucky all those years ago to be put in touch with a pen-friend who would grow up to share my love of travel."

Mrs Cole, who returns home on Monday, said friendships like theirs could teach the world something. "If people across the world could just realise that if we get to know each other our similarities, hopes and dreams outweigh any differences that our cultures might have," she said