‘Reading it has made me realize how ungrateful we are these days’
Construction worker Lewis Shaw found a surprise after tearing down a chimney from a 1930s semi-detached home in Reading, England. Inside the chimney was a perfectly preserved letter to Santa Claus (Father Christmas across the pond) from a boy named David asking for some very sweet and simple toys. According to Shaw, “Reading it has made me realize how ungrateful we are these days, kids requesting expensive electronic toys.”
David’s Haylock’s letter read:
Dear Father Christmas,
Please can you send me Rupert* Annual and a drum, box of chalk, soldiers and Indians, slippers, silk tie, pencil box, any little toys you have to spare.
Love, David
*Rupert Bear is a British cartoon character
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After discovering the note, Shaw started a Facebook campaign to try and locate Haylock, but he was found after Shaw talked to some neighbors near the Reading home. Haylock, now 78, got in touch with Shaw after just two days and they met up at the home he lived in from 1937 to 1966. Upon arrival, Haylock found all of the gifts that he asked for 72 years ago, “It has been a very long time since I sent this list, but it has definitely been worth the wait, it’s amazing really. I am quite excited to open them now but I will have to wait until December 25, if I can,” Haylock told a local newspaper. “It was war time when I sent this but I was very lucky when I was a child to be honest. My father made all of my toys out of wood when I was young, so I always had plenty, I was quite spoilt really being an only child. I had parents who couldn’t do enough for me.”
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Although it’s been 72 years, Haylock still remembers placing letters in the chimney as a child. “I can remember bending down with my mother and putting it up the chimney, and waiting for the draught to take it up,” he said. These days, his grandchildren take the easy way to get their letters to Santa, via email. “Seeing as it’s taken more than 70 years for the letter to get to Father Christmas, I think email is probably the best way,” Haylock said.
(H/T Evening Standard)
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