Forgotten WW2 love letters found in wardrobe at empty home

About 20 of the handwriten letters dating between 1942 and 1946 were found in a wardrobe

A bundle of forgotten wartime love letters has been found in an empty house, prompting a search for relatives of the couple who wrote them.

The letters were exchanged between a young woman in Blackpool and an RAF commander stationed in Plymouth.

Dating from 1942 to 1946, they are full of romantic passages with the pair longing to see each other again.

Marie Copley, who wants to trace the couple's descendants, said: "They're a really fascinating piece of history."

Mrs Copley's surveyor husband found the letters - some handwritten and some typed - in a wardrobe at a vacant house in Reading, which had recently been sold.

They were exchanged between a Miss Ronnie Stone who lived in Layton Road, Blackpool, and Air Commodore Frankie Clarke, who served in the RAF during World War Two.

One envelope even contained some pressed flowers, sent as a gift.

Some of the letters are handwritten and some typed

"From the dating of the letters it seems they can't have been together too long," Mrs Copley said.

"I've tried searching and I can't find a marriage certificate, and I don't think they had children.

"They are so sweet. There's one where Frankie is saying he doesn't know when he will be able to see her again, and he tells how one year he couldn't get leave over Christmas and New Year to visit."

Another of the letters appears to detail how the couple first met, in some gardens in the Lancashire seaside town.

One envelope contained some pressed flowers

Mrs Copley said: "In one he says 'All your movements that you've written about interest me, and when you talk of the gardens my mind goes back to those happy days of Blackpool, which I'll never forget'.

"And then he says, 'That's all for now my dear. Fondest love and wishes that we can be together again, Frankie'.

"There are around 20 letters in total, and they're very well presented, with the original old stamps. They're so nice."

Mrs Copley, who has a personal interest in World War Two, has since circulated details of the letters on local history groups in Blackpool in the hope of finding out more.

"They've been shared hundreds of times now. I just think I need to try to get them back to their families," she said.

"I feel like they don't belong to me really. I'm sure their children or grandchildren would love to have them back."

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