A 10-Year-Old Girl Hid a Handwritten Letter Under the Stairs. 44 Years Later, Her Sweet Note Was Discovered

Michelle Harwood, 36, posted on her local Facebook group after she found the note, and users connected her with writer Rachel Miles, now 54, within the hour

NEED TO KNOW

• A letter written by a 10-year-old girl in the 1980s and hidden under the stairs has been found after 44 years
• U.K. homeowner Michelle Harwood, 36, discovered the handwritten 1982 note while renovating her house, and social media users identified the writer as Rachel Miles, now 54, within an hour
• Miles explained that the popularity of time capsules in the ‘80s inspired her to leave a note, telling the BBC she was “delighted” it had been found

A letter written by a 10-year-old girl in the 1980s that was hidden under the stairs has been discovered 44 years later.

Michelle Harwood was renovating her house in the U.K. village of Hockley, which is around 40 miles east of London, when a worker found the paper and gave it to her.

After reading the note, the 36-year-old posted about it on a local Facebook group in a bid to track down the author, who gave her name as Rachel North.

“To a finder,” the letter began. “This letter was planted here on the August 12th 1982 and the reign [of] Queen Elizabeth the 2nd.”

It continued, “My name is Rachel North, I live here with my mother, father and brother and my cat who is called Kizzy. I am 10 years old and I was born on the 11th of February and was born at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.”

In the space of an hour, multiple people had found and tagged the writer, a 54-year-old teacher living in the town of Milton Keynes, about 85 miles away, who is now known as Rachel Miles.

“Wow, did you find the money I buried with it? Lol,” Miles replied, alongside a grinning emoji. “Yes it’s me. Cool handwriting x.”

Her brother, Mike North, also commented, “This is amazing and I do remember her hiding this letter! Fame at last for Rachel and the cat Kizzy of course,” joking that his own name “didn’t warrant a mention” in the letter.

Speaking to the BBC, Miles explained that time capsules had been popular in the 1980s thanks to the British children’s TV show Blue Peter, and said she remembered writing the note after her dad found the space under the stairs.

“I just thought it would be quite nice to basically post a letter for the future and I’m obviously quite delighted to see that someone had found it,” she told the broadcaster.

Miles said it was “lovely” to relive her childhood and to see the comments from people who remembered her as a child, despite her leaving the area, per the BBC.

Harwood, meanwhile, told the BBC that she got “goosebumps” from reading the letter, which had “been there longer than I’ve been alive.”

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Harwood said she had no expectations of finding the writer, let alone being connected with Miles that same morning.

“I think social media is great for things like that, because so many people are connected,” she told the BBC.

PEOPLE has reached out to Michelle Harwood and Rachel Miles for comment.

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