Two young penpals who met nearly a year ago on a family holiday have been reunited thanks to a campaign led by KentOnline's sister paper, the Kentish Express.

Madison Geering, eight, from Ashford instantly hit off with Ruby, six, from Liverpool, when their families both stayed at the 5* Annabelle Beach Resort in Crete last July.

The pair became close during the Greece holiday, and spent much of their time together playing in the pool.

Their parents swapped addresses and agreed to stay in touch through letters.

Charmaine Ward, Madison’s mum, said the youngster was delighted when she received a letter from her holiday pal last week after losing her address - but she soon became disappointed when she realised there was no reply address on the note.

So Charmaine, 31, from Park Farm, took action and contacted the Kentish Express team in a bid to reunite her daughter with her friend.

The story was picked up by Warrington Guardian and just two days later Jemma Mahoney, mum of Ruby, now-seven, got in touch.

Jemma, who lives in Liverpool with her partner Tony was pregnant at the time of the holiday but her youngest Billy is now five months old.

She said: "I’m so surprised! We found Madison’s address on my iPad so Ruby wrote a letter about what she has been up to.

"But she realised just after she’d posted it that she forgot to put her address on it. I just can’t believe it’s gone this far!

"It was just so funny. I got tagged in a post on Facebook where one of my friends said ‘is this you Jemma, it sounds like you’ and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

"I told Ruby and she was really excited, they got on so well together and she just really wants a letter back, she’s very happy now."

Madison's mum Charmaine added: "Thank you so much for your help, Madison is so excited she's found Ruby again. She's already written her letter and can't wait to post it later.

"I'm really happy because it means I've been redeemed for losing her address in the first place!"

Full story in next week's Kentish Express.