Re the letter on friendship (15 March), we are a group of schoolmates from the class of 1958, all octogenarians. We meet regularly, usually in one of the many clubs of Bangalore, have a few drinks and dinner, gossip and disperse. It is important for us to meet regularly now as we are unsure if we will be able do so in future given our age. It reminds me of an article I recently read in the New York Times, in which a group of similarly retired old men were known as Romeo – Retired Old Men Eating Out.
HN Ramakrishna
Bangalore, India
• My friends John Martin (Shrewsbury) and Mirko Junkovic (Cambridge) and I have been firm friends since meeting at St Peter’s primary school in Leamington Spa in 1959, aged four years and nine months. At nearly 68, we see our longevity as being partly down to our long friendship, comradeship and love for each other. Old friends never die … they just keep on.
Rory Murphy
London
• My lifelong friend and I grew up on a street in the north after the war in the 1940s. We started primary school together, passed our 11-plus, went to grammar school where we wore our (still kept) berets and learned to knit our ghastly scarves. Our ways led to different universities, but we kept in touch. She refuses modern devices, which means we exchange gloriously long letters in the style of Mrs Dale’s Diary. To our horror, we are now 80, and one day will disappear, but the letters will stay in their box for future generations.
Jean Jackson
Seer Green, Buckinghamshire
• Our friendship began at the start of term in our first year at Gwendraeth grammar school in September 1954. It continues to hold firm and is a lasting joy. Perhaps the fact that we are all Guardian readers and John Crace fans helps, though my husband still asks: “What do you find to talk and laugh about?”
Liz Thomas
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
• My friend Barbara and I still have a lively and affectionate relationship, despite having lived 200 miles apart for half of our lives. We met at the age of three and are both 76 this year. How lucky are we?
Alex Percy
Winchester
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
