A man has praised the power of the internet after he was reunited with an East Lancashire pen pal after 30 years.

John Charles, from Liverpool, posted one of his old pen pal letters to Twitter in the hope of finding two Oswaldtwistle girls he met on a holiday in Benidorm.

According to John the girls, Katy Walsh and Claire Jones, are responsible for turning him into a die-hard Blackburn Rovers fan, saying he is ‘probably the only lad from Liverpool’ who supports the team.

Lancashire Telegraph: A pen pal letter sent to John Charles around 30 years agoA pen pal letter sent to John Charles around 30 years ago (Image: John Charles)

John, who works as an international artist, said: “I was nine and we were on a family holiday in Benidorm when I met Katy and Claire, who were a bit older than me.

“There was a massive group of us and we all met at the kids’ club. I just seemed to take a shine to then and in all the photographs I can be seen next to them.

“At the time I was trying to be a smooth little nine-year-old and I pretended to support Blackburn to impress them.

“Ever since that day I have been a genuine avid supporter, even now.

“When I started working I held a season ticket for around four years, following the team around Europe and supporting them at many other away games.

“Now it’s just such a nice memory and that holiday was one of my favourite childhood holidays too.

“When I go to a game or tell people who I support, I often think back to that holiday and are reminded of them.

“They obviously made a big impact on me considering I am still a Blackburn fan 30 years later.”

John said his family and friends are always shocked and “disgusted” when he tells them he doesn’t support Liverpool.

Lancashire Telegraph: (L-R)Claire Jones, John Charles, and Katy Walsh on holiday in Benidorm 30 years ago(L-R)Claire Jones, John Charles, and Katy Walsh on holiday in Benidorm 30 years ago (Image: , John Charles,)

He said: “I am a typical Liverpool lad and my family are die hard Liverpool football fans.

"When I tell people I support Blackburn instead of a home city club you should see their faces.

“My dad asked me if I was really sticking with Blackburn and he was absolutely heartbroken about it.

“Everybody else is a die-hard Livepool fan and then there’s me.”

John said he has been meaning to get back in touch with his old pen pals.

He said: “I don’t know how I managed to keep that over the years but my wife found it in a memory box and she sent a picture of it to me.

“I have always wanted to try and get back in touch with them. I have tried to find them on Facebook but I couldn’t remember their surnames.

“One day I tweeted about it to see if the power of social media could help me out and the tweet just took off.”

The pen pal note was shared far and wide, with Blackburn Rovers fans and even former Hyndburn MP Graham Jones spreading the word.

Within 24 hours John managed to make contact with Katy Walsh.

He said: “It has been lovely speaking to Katy after all these years. We’ve been talking quite a lot in the last few days.

“We are hoping to go and see a game at Ewood Park when I come back from Dubai in a few months.

“I want to thank all of the Blackburn fans and other people who retweeted the tweet and helped reunite me with my old pen pal.”

Katy said the message “brightened” her weekend.

She said: “A friend had tagged me in Graham Jones’ Facebook post. I didn’t really remember the letter but thought it was definitely something we would have written back then.

“Once we shared the pictures I remembered the holiday. I also got in touch with Claire, who I haven’t spoken to in years, and she was surprised as well.

“It’s crackers that I helped turn him into a Rovers fan, especially as he grew up 40 miles away in Liverpool.

“We have been talking every day, about his art and memories from the holiday. It has been really nice.

“It feels like we have known each other forever.”