A WANSTEAD woman had a long wait to receive a thank-you letter for Christmas presents she gave her niece.

But it wasn't because the little girl forgot her manners and only remembered them when she was a teenager.

It was because Freda Marks' post took nine years to arrive.

When the letter was posted Mrs Marks' niece was more into Barbie than boys but last week the thankyou letter from the then eight-year-old, sent in 1997, plopped through Mrs Marks' Grosvenor Road letterbox, along with a long-lost thankyou letter from her health worker.

The great-grandmother said: "I thought I was dreaming when I opened the letters.

"I wondered what it all was about because my niece is now a teenager and she was writing like a little girl.

"She thanked me for the crayons I sent her. There was another letter from my nurse thanking me for biscuits I gave her.

"I thought it was unbelievable, it was hilarous really."

But the mystery of the slow post from the last century was cleared up by a letter from the Royal Mail.

As Mrs Marks explained: "A letter attached said there were some letters stolen and they were sending them on to me. They apologised for the delay. The post brings back a lot of memories, my husband was alive then."

And Mrs Marks is not the only Wanstead woman to be subjected to a blast from the past recently. Last month the Guardian reported that the Royal Mail returned a bunch of letters to Marilyn Sandy.

The explanatory note attached said: "Some mail has been found which is around ten years old. I must stress that this is extremely unusual indeed only 0.0005 per cent of mail is affected by theft."