A couple were astonished and delighted to receive a letter from distant friends despite the rather vague address on the envelope.

Postal workers tracked down Peter and Hilary Abercrombie, of Elm Grove, Burley-in-Wharfedale, despite the fact that the address on the envelope simply stated: 'Mr and Mrs Peter Abercrombie, Ilkley-Moor-By-Tat, Yorkshire, England'.

The letter came from a couple the Abercrombies had met on holiday in Venice in 1994. Although they came from England originally, Ronald White and his wife, Anne, live in Ontario, Canada.

"We had exchanged addresses and had sent each other cards for a few years then, all of a sudden, there was nothing," said Mr Abercrombie.

Undeterred the Abercrombies sent another card to their Canadian friends but did not put their home address on it.

Mr and Mrs White had lost their address and Mr Abercrombie said that they had obviously remembered the famous song.

"He was born somewhere around London and must have remembered something to do with Ilkley Moor Baht'At although he had probably never sung it in his life," said Mr Abercrombie.

"I was absolutely amazed the postal service got it to us."

A Royal Mail spokesman said a 50-year-old postman working in Ilkley since 1974 came across the envelope.

He looked at the postcode book and found the couple in the telephone directory and gave them a call to check it was them before delivering the letter.

He said: "We are delighted that this one got through but we would ask people to use the proper address and post code so they can be sure of getting their mail on time."

Mrs Abercrombie said that the couple hoped to go to Canada in the near future and meet up with their friends.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.