A WOMAN has met up with her American pen pal for the first time -- 45 years after they first started writing to each other.

Edna Beech, 60, of Brecon Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, was celebrating her ruby wedding anniversary in Las Vegas when her pen friend Sharon Norin turned up to join the party -- having travelled for three days across America, clocking up some 1,800 miles!

Sharon's surprise visit followed one of Edna's regular letters to her Wisconsin friend, telling her about the plans for the once-in-a-lifetime trip touring Western America.

Edna's husband, Frank, 68, said: "We were absolutely gobsmacked when they arrived in Las Vegas and rang our hotel to tell us they were also in town.

"We were so touched that they had travelled so far, and for so long, just to meet us."

Sharon and Edna first started writing to each other in 1955, when they were both still at school. Despite being kept abreast of each other's news -- including marriages and the birth of children and, more recently, grandchildren -- the two never thought they would meet. But that all changed when Sharon, and her husband Jerry, decided to travel across America to meet the holidaying couple.

Frank, who met Edna when they both worked at Mullards in Blackburn, added: "They met us at the top of the tower at our hotel, the Stratosphere Hotel.

"We had a drink and spent three days with them before they had to go back home, driving across five states. We just cannot get over how far they travelled to see us. It really made the holiday. Now that we have met them, and have got on really well with them, they are starting to save so they can come over here to see what it is like in England.

"At least we wouldn't have to travel so far to see them!"

Picture shows (from the left) Jerry and Sharon Norin and Edna and Frank Beech.