Veterans at The Royal Star & Garter Homes in Surbiton and pupils from Hinchley Wood School have become penpals in an initiative to get generations writing to each other run by It’s not Your Birthday But.

Glitter pens and fountain pens in hand, the 12-year old pupils and the residents, who are mostly in their eighties, have been sending letters and postcards to each other throughout February, sharing the stories of their everyday lives and discovering that they had a great deal in common.