A woman who threw a message in a bottle into the sea almost 50 years ago has been reunited with the Dutch boy who found it and became her penpal.

Freda Sleight, now 93, has been corresponding with 61-year-old Alfonso Bleyendaal for 48 years, but this was their first meeting for 15 years.

It was an emotional reunion when Alfonso walked into the sitting room of Freda’s Bradford home with the original letter, which he had laminated for her to keep.

He also brought his family – sister Nettie, who Freda also corresponds with, her husband Yan and Alfonso’s partner Marianne.

Freda left her message in a bottle when she was on a cruise with her husband George in her 40s. The couple were on the Hull to Rotterdam route when Freda slipped threw the bottle overboard.

Two months later Freda’s note, asking the recipient to write to her at her Bradford home, was acknowledged by Alfonso, then a 16-year-old student.

He had found the bottle on the seashore at Heemskirk, north Holland.

Alfonso and Nettie stayed with Freda and her family in Bradford for three weeks when they first visited.

Freda and George introduced Alfonso and his sister to their children, Geoff, Stuart and Marilyn.

The reunion was reported in the Telegraph & Argus on August 4, 1964.

Freda said of Alfonso’s latest visit: “It’s wonderful. He still has the same mannerisms and sense of humour.”

Alfonso credits Freda and her family with teaching him English. He said: “I find it unique myself that when I was 14 I spoke a little bit of English but when I came here the first time when I was 16 after a week I could understand a lot of the conversations.”

The penpals still correspond by letter. Freda would not want a computer and prefers putting pen to paper than e-mail.

Alfonso said writing by hand was more personal. He and his sister also phone Freda.

During their three-day stay the family were doing some sight-seeing around the areas Freda and her family took them when they first visited and Freda’s son Geoff organised a family meal.

“We enjoyed our stay and it is nice to see the family again,” said Alfonso.