CHILDHOOD memories were brought back when a woman from Barrow recovered her 45-year-old letters to Santa from her mum's chimney.

53-year-old Lynn Andrews posted photographs of the remnants of the charred letters to a local Facebook group.

Lynn, who is from the Risedale Road area, guessed that the letters date back to around 1978 when she was around eight years old.

The letters include a makeshift envelope with a hand-drawn stamp - with an extra 'threatening' message for her sibling.

The parts of the letters that were still visible to read said: "Dawn do not open till Christmas Day or if you do I will nip you."

Lynn said: "Dawn is my sister and we were always fighting as siblings do. 

"My mam has recently had her chimney cleaned and that's when it was discovered.

"I must have posted it under the fire and then over years, it has lost its way in there. 

"I think what we’ve found could possibly be me creating the envelope. Looks like I’ve drawn a little stamp.

"I think there was possibly a Christmas list to go with it a one point but that may have got lost.

"I have no idea what my Christmas wishes were though. I can’t believe they were still there after all this time."

The post prompted many Facebook users to reminisce about a very old Christmas tradition. 

In Britain, children would write their letters to Father Christmas and then throw them into the fireplace.

They believed they would either float up the chimney and fly to the North Pole or burn them with the smoke magically travelling to Santa.

Some simply believed that they would be collected when he made his way to the bottom of the chimney on Christmas Eve.

Alongside a list of this year’s must haves, children often made sure they included bits about their good behaviour to make sure you get a spot on the Nice List.

Well-behaved children would wake up to a stocking stuffed with goodies on Christmas morning, while kids on Santa’s Naughty List are traditionally given a lump of coal.

One Facebook user wrote: "That's where letters to Santa's always went, when I was a kid. Good old days.”

Another added: "Wow, I always threw my letter up the chimney. If it didn't come down, I was sure Father Christmas had got it. Magical days.”

One woman said: "My dad would always put our Xmas letters up the chimney for us 3 girls."