Message in a bottle is found in Netherlands

A WORTHING schoolgirl who threw a bottle out to sea has heard from a couple who found it in the Netherlands.
WH 200914 Jessica Page, 8, found a message in a bottle, and had a reply from Holland after sending her own message in a bottle. Photo by Derek Martin SUS-140920-183716001WH 200914 Jessica Page, 8, found a message in a bottle, and had a reply from Holland after sending her own message in a bottle. Photo by Derek Martin SUS-140920-183716001
WH 200914 Jessica Page, 8, found a message in a bottle, and had a reply from Holland after sending her own message in a bottle. Photo by Derek Martin SUS-140920-183716001

Jessica Page, eight, of Poulters Lane, Worthing, was on the beach at Goring with her older brother Lewis, 11, back in June when they noticed that a cola bottle had washed up onto the shore.

The Thomas A’ Becket Middle School pupil said: “We found it before we went to school one morning. We were sitting on the beach and suddenly my brother said he could see something near the sea.

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“We ran down there to see what it was and tried to open the bottle but could not get the top off.

WH 200914 Jessica Page, 8, found a message in a bottle, and had a reply from Holland after sending her own message in a bottle. Photo by Derek Martin SUS-140920-183716001WH 200914 Jessica Page, 8, found a message in a bottle, and had a reply from Holland after sending her own message in a bottle. Photo by Derek Martin SUS-140920-183716001
WH 200914 Jessica Page, 8, found a message in a bottle, and had a reply from Holland after sending her own message in a bottle. Photo by Derek Martin SUS-140920-183716001

“It was not until we were back in the car on the way to pick my mum up from work that we got it open and when we did, we read all the letters inside.

“They told us about where it was sent and asked us to write back.”

The bottle had originally been sent by seven-year-old Ruby, from Horsham.

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Jessica said: “About two days after, we sat down and wrote a letter to Ruby. It was very exciting,

“I wrote in the letter that I hoped that we could keep sending messages and letters back and forward to one another, and I think we will.

“I would like us to be pen-pals.”

Jessica and her family also wrote another letter and filled it with trinkets before throwing it back into the sea at Goring.

She said: “We wanted to do our own bottle and hoped that someone would find it just like we did.

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“We put that we would like whoever found it to write back to us so put our own names and addresses in and also some loom bands and a little charm.

“Loom bands are one of my favourite things and we put in a black and red one and a blue and green one.”

Last week, Jessica received a package from Wilco and Hanneke Jacobusse, of Oasterschelde, in south west Netherlands.

She said: “I could not believe it when I saw the package. To start with, I thought that it had come to the wrong address.

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“My friend is half Dutch but we have never been to the Netherlands.

“It was very exciting to get the package and I am going to take it in to school to show it to all of my friends.”

Jessica’s father, Martin, said: “The couple from the Netherlands were in their early thirties and had included in the package a photograph of the bottle when they found it, a place mat that they had made and a large range of leaflets about the attractions where they live.

“It is unbelievable really that it could end up so far away.

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“The kids wanted to do something after they found the bottle. The idea came from there, but when we were trying to throw ours in, it kept coming back to us with the tide so it took a few goes before we got it to float out.

“We thought that it would be found locally.”

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