TWO best friends who lived in Compton Bassett in the 1960s have reunited after more than 50 years.

Linda Johnson, 60, of the High Street in West Lavington, hadn’t seen childhood friend Vivienne Payne, also 60, since 1962 when her father worked at the former RAF base in Compton Bassett.

After tracking down Mrs Johnson’s mother’s address, and many phone calls later, the two met on holiday in Prague over Easter.

Mrs Johnson, who is a former primary school teacher, said: “It was an emotional but amazing experience seeing each other after all those years.

“Whatever had made us friends before was definitely still there.”

Mrs Johnson’s family moved to Devon in 1962 and the two women wrote to each other in their teenage years, but lost contact when Mrs Payne emigrated to America.

Mrs Johnson then moved back to Wiltshire to work as a teacher and has lived in West Lavington for the past 19 years.

She first got in contact with her old friend six years ago when Mrs Payne looked up her mother’s address and phone number.

She said: “Vivienne had been looking up things about her past and had decided that she would try and find me after all these years. Since then we have been ringing each other once a month.”

Mrs Johnson said the pair will be continuing with their phone calls and hope to meet up again next year.