Girl tracked down years after leaving heartfelt letter in Glasgow flat

A homeowner who discovered a letter written by a little girl asking the new family to '˜look after my house for me' managed to track her down more than a decade later.

Martin Johnstone found the note beneath floorboards as he tore up carpets in his son’s old bedroom in a tenement flat in Southside, Glasgow.

The father-of-two was stunned to find the note in an envelope marked ‘A little letter’ hidden in the spare room of the flat.

Charlotte Gardner was astonished to see a letter on Twitter that she had written to the new owners of the flat where she grew up in Glasgow

Mr Johnstone set about trying to track down the writer, who identified herself as Charlotte Olivia Jane Gardner, who was aged 13 at the time.

Within less than 24 hours of posting an image of the letter on Twitter, Mr Johnstone was in touch with Ms Gardner, who now lives in Bath, Somerset.

Mr Johnstone said: “I stumbled across the letter from the spare bedroom. It was hidden under the carpet, which I was ripping out.

“We moved here in 2007 and it was Davie’s room, but since he moved out to go to university to study psychology it became a spare room.

Charlotte Gardner, as a child, around the time she wrote the letter

“He has now graduated though.

“When we moved here Davie must have been younger than Charlotte, but the letter remained hidden until a couple of weeks ago.

“It was such a lovely letter and in some ways, it was a letter you would expect a 13-year-old to write.”

The note read: “My name is Charlotte Olivia Jane Gardner and I have lived in this house for 11 years and this was once my bedroom.

The letter written by Charlotte Gardner when she was child

“I moved in when I was two and I am now 13.

“I have a sister as well who is 11 and she lived here all her life.

“I am moving out in two days on Friday and I am really upset and sad.

“Look after my house for me.”

And below the note, she wished them a “Happy Valentines Day”.

Determined to track down the author, Mr Johnstone, 55, posted a photo on Twitter.

Ms Gardner, now aged 24, saw it within just 18 hours.

She immediately responded, writing: “It seems your post made its way to me.

“What a lovely surprise waking up this morning to see this.

“I currently live in Bath and have for nine years now. I have such fond memories of that flat in Glasgow. I hope you have loved it as much as I did.

“Thank you Martin.”

The software worker was stunned when she saw her youthful handwriting on the internet.

Ms Gardner said: “I was first confused. Somebody sent me a screenshot on Facebook of Martin’s Twitter post, but I didn’t understand it, but I recognised my hand writing.

“When I went on Twitter and saw the post I spoke to my mum and she brought it all back to me.

“She remembers clear as day.”