Birthday card sent for 40 years

The 40-year-old card is a record of the brothers' lives

Two brothers who live more than 200 miles apart have been sending each other the same birthday card for the past 40 years.

Jim Hadwin, 84, from Dorset, first posted the card to his brother, Arnold, 80, in Langworth, near Lincoln, in 1969 because he had forgotten his birthday.

When Jim, from Osmington Mills, sent the card he wrote a message inside.

His brother returned it with his own verse and the tradition has been kept up.

Jim said: "His birthday is close to the Christmas festivities and I'd I forgot to get him a card.

"So I sorted through and found a card that didn't have a name on, made a little verse and sent it to him.

"He sent me it back and we've been doing it for the last 40 years."

The card reads on the front: "At last science has developed a way of keeping you young".

While the inside contains a match with the message: "Just set fire to your birth certificate".

Arnold said: "Sometimes it [the verses] can be terribly serious and profound and sometimes it is just about catching big fish.

"It is marvellous to know that half of my life I have been sending this card - half my age."

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One Dorset man has been sending the same birthday card to his brother since 1969