Friends united in tragic circumstances have been reunited after 70 years.

Kathleen Etches and Eileen Lindley first met on the platform of Doncaster Station, aged six.

They were bound for Oak Bank children’s home, in Sevenoaks, Kent, because of difficult circumstances at home.

Kathleen’s mother had been taken into hospital and Kathleen’s father, a miner, was unable to care for her.

Eileen, one of 10 children, had been born prematurely to a blind father and was ‘failing to thrive’.

The two girls from pit villages in what is now South Yorkshire, were sent to an ‘open-air school for delicate children’.

In 1944, it was believed that children should get as much fresh air as possible.

Therefore Kathleen and Eileen, like hundreds of other girls at school, spent all but bedtimes and bath times outside the home, which was demolished in 1961.

In all but snow the girls, who had become firm friends on the train, had lessons, meals – including their favourite Marmite sandwiches – plus an hour’s ‘relaxation’ a day in the grounds of the home.

Kathleen and Eileen, spent 18 and 15 months respectively at the home before returning to their family homes in Wath-upon-Dearne and Bentley, near Doncaster.

Mrs Etches, now a great-grandmother, settled in Huddersfield aged 17. She married Peter, her former boss at Hopkinson’s Valves, Birkby, 27 years ago. After retiring aged 60 she spent more than 13 years as a volunteer at the Kirkwood Hospice shop on Byram Street in Huddersfield town centre.

Meanwhile Mrs Lindley, a grandmother, became a teacher in schools around Doncaster. She and husband Ian, a retired RAF chief technician, are now foster parents.

Kathleen and Eileen, now both 75, parted ways upon leaving Oak Bank but reconnected when Kathleen’s nephew, Barry, found Eileen’s blog about the school.

And despite 70 years apart, Kathleen (nee Vaughan) and Eileen (nee Wroe) got on famously at Kathleen’s house.

Kathleen said: “I’m amazed how 70 years has just dissolved.”

Eileen added: “I feel as if we’ve never been apart.”

Both Kathleen and Eileen remember Oak Bank fondly, even though Eileen had no contact with her family during her stay.

The pair have been trying to trace Enid Thacker, a former friend at Oak Bank.

Eileen said: “I think we’d like to go back together if the home was still there and we’d like to find Enid.”

Kathleen added: “I enjoyed being at Oak Bank. The people there were very kind”.