It’s a romantic tale that hasn’t had quite the fairytale ending people in Gravesend were hoping for.

KentOnline reported last week a quest to find the recipient of a bundle of decades-old love letters that had been hidden under floorboards.

Agnes Antoszek, 37, found the assortment of 20 personal notes and postcards while carrying out renovations to her home in Kings Farm, Gravesend.

Keen to reunite them with their owner, the mum-of-two appealed for help in tracking him down, describing it as the town’s very own love story.

Excitement spread on social media, with people comparing the tale to the romantic 2010 film Letters to Juliet, in which a young woman tries to trace the author of a note penned to Shakespeare’s love-torn heroine.

“Finding these letters has brought back some lovely memories for me, not just the schoolgirl crushes... Seeing the letters again wasn’t about this boy, it was about me being a teenager” - Helen Cox

Sadly, the man to whom many of the letters were penned contacted KentOnline to ask that his privacy be respected.

But while he wishes to remain a mystery, the story created much excitement when one of his former teenage admirers spotted some of the notes she wrote to him more than 40 years ago.

Helen Cox, 58, who works in the minor injuries unit at Gravesham Community Hospital, said the story had rekindled many feelings of nostalgia, not just for the days when teenagers wrote to each other but also for the era.

“It was merely schoolgirl crushes from 40-odd years ago and was all very innocent. We went to the same school and he lived opposite the launderette on Kings Farm.

“I was about 14 or 15, as I didn’t have my first boyfriend until I was 16. He must have been my first schoolgirl crush.

“A classmate of mine said this boy liked me so I wrote a letter saying ‘Do you like me? Please reply ASAP.’

“In one of the letters it says I’m taking the washing down to the launderette next week. I would do that every week for my mum and that’s where as teenagers we would all see each other and pass on letters.

“It was old-fashioned then and fascinating that we used to write letters to each other in those days to communicate.

“It must have been agonising waiting for him to reply, and I know he wasn’t replying as much as I was writing. “

Divorcee Helen, who now lives in Swanscombe, said it was not unusual for people in those days to hide personal belongings under floorboards and, as one of seven children herself, she resorted to the same secretive methods.

“Finding these letters has brought back some lovely memories for me, not just the schoolgirl crushes but also of the fashions and the under 18s disco at the Woodville Halls,” she said.

“Seeing the letters again wasn’t about this boy, it was about me being a teenager.”