Letter hidden in Essex staircase reunited with writer after 44 years

A letter written by a 10-year-old girl and hidden inside a staircase in an Essex home has been reunited with its author 44 years later. A worker found the note during renovation work at a house in Hockley and passed it to Michelle Harwood, who now lives there. Harwood posted about it on a local Facebook community group in an attempt to find the writer.

Within an hour, several people identified Rachel Miles, now a 54-year-old teacher living in Milton Keynes. Miles confirmed that she had written the letter, which is dated 12 August 1982. Miles said time capsules were popular during the 1980s, partly because of the influence of the television programme Blue Peter.

She recalled writing the note after her father found a cavity behind the stairs. Harwood said she experienced “goosebumps” when she read the words addressed “to the finder”. She had lived in the house for 11 years and noted that the letter had been written eight years before she was born.

Miles said her family had lived at the site when it was still a building site where she and her friends played. She also remembered naming her cat, Kizzy, in the letter, which amused Harwood. The two women discovered several connections between their lives.

Miles was born in Bury St Edmunds, near where Harwood’s husband spent part of his childhood, and both had owned cats while living at the property. The letter is now displayed on the Harwood family’s fridge. Harwood said the quick reunion showed how social media could connect people with links to the same area.