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Children who sent message in bottle from Gravesend found years later after note thrown in River Thames

A mudlarker who runs a website detailing her finds has managed to track down a group of youngsters from Gravesend who threw a bottle into the Thames - three years ago.

Nicola White found the bottle that was sent by four children in 2011 as they waited for Gravesham’s Big Day Out on July 23, 2011.

They were Lucie Hart, nine, Nathan Sizer, nine, Carmen Sizer, seven, who all attended Riverview primary school and Sophie Hart, 13, who was at Thamesview.

Sophie Hart 16, and Lucie Hart, 12.
Sophie Hart 16, and Lucie Hart, 12.

The letter read: “At this moment the time is 6.04pm and we are Gravesend Promenade waiting for the big concert to start as it is the Big Day Out.”

Now 16, Sophie and her sister Lucie, 12, from Riverview Park said they were shocked it had been found.

Lucie said: “We didn’t really think it would get anywhere really.

“I remember we went to the sailing club and asked for a pen and paper and just filled it in and then put the bottle into the water.

"We didn’t really think much of it after that so we were really surprised when someone said they’d found it.”

Miss White, 45, who walks the shores with her partner David Nolan, formerly of Gravesend, said: “We love walking along the shore looking for things and we like to go to places were they’re not very frequented.

Nicola White
Nicola White

“Cliffe in the Thames estuary seems to attract a lot of debris and a lot of plastic bottles so it’s an ideal place to go for messages in bottles and that’s where I found the one from the children in Gravesend.

“We found our first message about two and a half years ago and I’ve found 22 of them since then. This was an exciting find and it was also great that they were tracked down so quickly.”

Miss White, of Shooters Hill, Greenwich, uses some of her finds to create pieces of art while others she keeps, photographing and documenting them on her website.

Her finds include clay pipes,Victorian lead toys, military badges, pieces of pottery, jewellery and toys.

She added: “I love the mystery, it’s like a little jigsaw of our history and you never know what you’ll find. We’re finding things from well over 100 years ago.

“While I’m not actively looking for a response, it’s nice when I do tweet about messages in bottles I’ve found, I do get some responses from people and it would be lovely to get more responses. ”

To find out more, visit www.tidelineart.com.

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