They’ve been pen friends for 64 years.

But it’s only now that retired school secretary Katy McDonald has made the trip from the USA to Huddersfield to visit Barry Middleton and his family.

Katy’s husband Lawrence, who worked as a logger in Washington State, had always refused to fly.

So although Barry, wife Ann and their son David made the trip across the Atlantic to meet up with Katy and Lawrence, Katy had never visited the Middletons at their home in Netherend Road, Slaithwaite.

Sadly, Lawrence died last year and Katy decided it was time to make the trip.

“We first went over there in 1975,” said Barry. “But Katy’s husband would not fly so they never came here. Now Katy has come over here with her daughter Madeline and her husband Mark.”

And Katy’s verdict on Huddersfield? “She loves it to bits,” said Barry. “She probably knows Huddersfield as well as I do from all my letters telling her about it!”

The long-standing friendship began in 1953 when Barry was a pupil at Linthwaite Church School.

As part of Hands Across the Sea, an initiative supported by US First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, youngsters were encouraged to write to a pen pal in another country.

In most cases, boys were paired with girls as pen pals.

Barry said: “We picked a name at random. We did not know who we were going to get. Our family got pen pals in America, Some of the others lasted three or four years before it tailed off.

“Katy and I were the only ones to keep it going. We enjoyed writing to each other. We wrote about what we were doing at school.”

Over the years, Barry has kept Katy updated on family matters, his career as a self-employed master builder and his brief spell as a Huddersfield Borough policeman.

These days, Barry and Katy, who now lives in Oregon, keep in touch by email and phone calls rather than corresponding by airmail.

“Everyone seems to have had a penpal at some stage, but not many people keep it going,” he said. “We have always had plenty to talk about. We think about each other a lot and so do our families. We have kept a rapport going.”

During their visit, Katy, Madeline and Mark have been wined and dined and have visited some of Yorkshire’s historic gens, including York.

But the Colne Valley is their favourite. “They think it’s amazing,” said Barry.