TWO participants of Mount Kelly’s Pen Pal Scheme to link past and present pupils got the chance to meet in person recently.

Present pupil Holly Tasker and Charlie Woodham, who attended the school from 1952 to 56, became pen pals during the first lockdown when pupils were unable to fulfil the volunteering element of their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

Correspondence began with some of the school’s older alumni as a way to fill the gap and for some like Holly and Charlie they have kept in touch ever since, even after Holly completed her DofE Award, swapping stories about school life then and now.

The school said it was wonderful to welcome Charlie back to Mount Kelly for the first time since he last visited for an old boys’ rugby match in 1966.

Charlie presented Holly with a model ‘Olga’, of the school’s 50 foot pilot cutter that he carved himself as a lockdown project.

The school said he had shown woodworking prowess since his school days, evidence of which was found on the Newton House boards where he had carved his name and the school shield all those years ago!

Holly and Charlie are pictured with the model at Mount Kelly.