News & Events
New Found Friend from Newfoundland!!
30 June 2004
Staff of RWE NUKEM, who carry out Health Physics surveys on behalf of UKAEA, are trained to deal with unexpected finds, but the discovery of a ‘message in a bottle’ is not dealt with in the Training Manual!
Recently, Paul Manson and Stewart Fulton were surveying an area of coastline, east of the Dounreay site, when their attention was drawn to a bottle, as Paul explains: “It was your normal fizzy drink plastic bottle, but it was obvious it contained something. A closer look revealed it was rolled-up note paper. Was it a ‘message in a bottle’, we wondered?” Had they stumbled upon this romantic, but unreliable form of communication?
“Indeed we had,” said Stewart. “And on opening it we were amazed to find the paper in such good condition, and even more amazed to find it came from Newfoundland!”
The date on the letter was July 16, 2002 and the sender was eighteen year-old Sheila Durdle from Bonavista, Newfoundland. In her letter, Sheila lists her hobbies which include roller-blading and listening to music, her favourite band being the Backstreet Boys. She enjoys the company of friends and would love to find a pen-pal.
A spokesperson for UKAEA Dounreay Communications said a reply would be sent to Sheila telling where and when the bottle was found, as well as a brief history of the area.
Steve Burness, Head of Site for RWE NUKEM said “This has been a delightful distraction from the normal painstaking routine of the survey work we undertake on the coast. With all of the advanced technologies we apply in our work at Dounreay it brings a smile to the face to see a good old fashioned message in a bottle finding its way across the Atlantic and onto a Caithness beach.. Full marks to the young lady from Newfoundland and to our men for spotting the bottle and its contents. I sincerely hope she does get her hoped for pen-pal, as I know from personal experience how long and cold the winters can be in Canada, and a letter from a pen pal in Caithness might just brighten up a long winter’s night. It will no doubt be a grand surprise when she receives the reply from our friends in Dounreay Communications”