Two trans-Atlantic penpals who have been writing to each other for six decades have finally met up for the first time.

Grandmother Joy Hood, from West Bromwich, and Carol Goudy from Minnesota in the USA, first started exchanging letters at the age of 10 back in 1950.

They have been dear friends ever since, speaking regularly on the phone and sending photographs and gifts across the Atlantic.

But they enjoyed an emotional meeting when they first set eyes on each other at Birmingham International Airport yesterday, recognising each other straight away before sharing a tearful hug. Carol, now 68, travelled across 8,000 miles for 24 hours with her daughter-in-law Lina, 47, to visit her Black Country pal.

They both said they had become as close as sisters after sharing everything through letters and phonecalls, while they have mirrored each other in many of the major events in their lives including getting married, having children and losing loved ones.

It was an advert in an American newspaper which first prompted the exchange.