The letter for granny delivered against the odds

Cora Kelly Bell at the postbox in Stirling. PIC: PA.

The letter was sent to granny, from Stirling with love.

But seven-year-old Cora Kelly Bell’s letter came with an extra challenge for the postman, when she addressed it only to 'Anne, who takes photographs of Fair Head, Ballycastle, N Ireland'.

Incredibly, the letter found its way to its destination less than 24 hours later.

Grandmother Anne Kelly was left stunned when the letter arrived against the odds.

The letter from Cora Kelly Bell, of Stirling, to her granny. It was addressed to only "Anne, who takes photographs of Fair Head, Ballycastle, N Ireland" and arrived less than 24 hours later. Anne Kelly/PA Wire

But Mrs Kelly was located easy enough by the postman, given her photos of the North Antrim coast have built up following.

Pictures of Fair Head, a stunning cliff near her Ballycastle home, have become her speciality, so the postman was able to piece together the little delivery puzzle.

Mrs Kelly said: "My daughter Orla lives in Scotland with Cora and her sister Sarah. They would miss me and I miss them.

"They would quite often write wee letters to us, wee drawings that the girls have done and post it to myself and my husband Brian.

Anne Kelly of herself with a letter from her granddaughter Cora Kelly Bell, who decided to set a special challenge for the postal service. Family Handout/PA Wire

"I would then take a wee video then of Brian opening the letters and send it back to Orla to let the girls see.

"They talked about me, and the fact that I take photographs of Fair Head and that I was quite well known for that, so they thought it would make me happy if they did a letter.

"Cora wrote the message on the inside and then they talked about what they would write on the outside of the envelope. So they thought they would just put 'Anne, who takes photos of Fair Head, Ballycastle'."

She added: "They put a first class stamp on it and sent it from Stirling. They thought no way is that going to get to us, they assumed it would get lost in the post.

"They posted it at 11am one day and it arrived with me within 24 hours.

"It was a challenge to the postman to see if he could get the letter to granny. The postman passed it with flying colours.

"It was just dropped in the letterbox. I saw it and I thought it was somebody wanting to ask me something about a photograph I took.

"After I opened it I sent a message to the postman, telling him that I hoped it wasn't too much trouble, and he said it was a collective effort in the post office to make sure it got to me.

"I suppose they just forwarded it on to Ballycastle, and decided to let the postman sort it out from there."

Anne said her whole family were surprised the letter had arrived.

"I am sure it is not the sort of thing Royal Mail would advise people to do!"

Anne explained her love of taking photographs of the north Antrim coast.

"When I see something nice I will have my phone or my camera with me and I have thousands of photographs on my computer.

"I post quite a lot of photographs on Facebook and Twitter and sometimes they use my photos on the weather bulletins on BBC and UTV. People have just got to know that I take lots of photographs of Fair Head.

"I can see Fair Head from our back garden – and I can see Scotland from our back garden.”

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