A PAIR of beach-goers made a surprising discovery when they stumbled upon a message in a bottle - believed to be 60 years old.

Indiana Tarrant, 21 and Luca Gamberini, 21, were skimming stones on Hove beach on Tuesday, February 2 when they made the unusual find.

At first they thought the bottle was empty, but when they opened it they discovered a letter dated August, 7 1961.

The Argus: The note dates back to 1961 The note dates back to 1961

They are now trying to track down the person who wrote the letter and threw it into the sea in the hope that it would reach the United States.

The note says: “Dear you Yanks,

“How’s life across the Pond? Threw this from the Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, UK.

The Argus: The friends want to trace the letter's senderThe friends want to trace the letter's sender

“Suppose I should say cheers for the help in the war. Roy Orbison is starting to kick off here and everything’s seeming to get pretty groovy.

“I wonder what it’s looking like on your side. Never been to America but I’d love to put on a Stetson and ride on horseback.

“Hope this message finds somebody well.

“Bobby Doseuegs and Mates.”

The friends, who live in Church Road, Hove, said at a first glance the bottle looked empty.

But on closer inspection, Indiana realised it had sealed cap and a note had been placed inside.

He said: “I showed it to Luca and we decided to take it home.

“It had wax around the cap so we cut that off with a bread knife and we managed to get it open.

“It took us a while to get the letter out but eventually we got it out with a pair of tweezers.”

Indiana said that he turned to the internet in the hope of finding some information about the letter’s sender, but it returned no searches.

Do you have any information that could help return the letter to its original sender? Get in touch olivia.marshall@newsquest.co.uk