A SECRET stash of love letters from half a century ago have been discovered under the floorboards of a home being renovated.
Builder Bal Singh was working on a property in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, when he came across the hand-written notes dating as far back as the 1970s, which brought him to tears.
The letters, many of which have a Birmingham postage stamp, were stored in a large sweet-shop style jar, and despite the years are still legible.
They are all addressed to Mr J Ward, of Mensing Avenue, Cotgrave and are posted from an address on Aldgate Grove, in Newtown, Birmingham.
One letter reads: “My darling John. Well darling I hope you have got back from Liverpool all right.
“I don’t know what sort of day you have had but I have had a rotten day without you.
“I have not been out all day. I just didn’t want to go out without you.
“I have been on my own all day just thinking of you.
“I have really missed you darling, I can’t wait for the time when we will be together for always.”
Mr Singh and a colleague had been working on the terraced property, which is owned by a friend of a friend, for just “one or two days” when the discovery was made.
The wooden floorboards had been lifted up to allow for plumbing work to take place when they came across the jar.
Mr Singh took to Facebook in the hope that the letters might be reunited with the J Ward in question.
He said: “As you do, you get a bit nosey don’t you. I thought: What’s in here then?”
The love letters, which are written between May and October 1971, indicate an affectionate relationship between two young lovers.
Whoever penned the notes talks about the two of them spending weekends together and getting the bus back home after the two had spent time with each other.
It says in another letter: “My dearest John. I am just writing to let you know that I have got home safe. I got in the house at 10.30.
“Darling I am missing you like mad already I wish I was still with you. I was nearly in tears when the bus started off tonight.
“I felt as though my heart was in my mouth, I very nearly jumped off the bus.
“Darling I can’t wait for the moment when we will be together for good.
“I love you more than you will ever know. It has been a great weekend, just being with you, you are a great person darling and I love you for what you are just don’t ever change darling.
“I love you and I always will. Yours forever. Beth.”
The letter also includes drawings of love hearts with the names “Beth + John” written inside.
Assuming that Beth and John had been between the ages of 16 and 20 in 1971, they would be between the ages of 69 and 73 now.
Along with the collection of love letters, Mr Singh also discovered writing and drawings on plasterboard behind wallpaper in a bedroom he had stripped away.
The illustrations include a line of stick figures along with the names: Russ, Donna, Teresa, Anne, Lee, Nicola, Justine, Richard, Jonathan, and Gilly, with one dated Wednesday, December 30, 1987.
Despite the mystery behind the letters, Mr Singh said it was not uncommon for “weird” artefacts to be found in old houses.
He previously found “strange poems” scribbled on the walls of a property in The Meadows, an area of south Nottingham.
The discovery comes after a couple found a £35,000 hoard buried beneath their floorboards while renovating their kitchen, earlier this year.
Betty and Robert Fooks were doing up their Dorset cottage when they came across a trove of golden coins.
Meanwhile, another man discovered a hidden cellar beneath his rotting floorboards – and has transformed it into a home cinema.
