CHIPPENHAM NEWS: A MESSAGE in a bottle, thrown from a cruise ship during a terrifying storm, was returned to a Corsham holidaymaker four years after it was written.

Stella Scott-Green, of Pickwick, was amazed when she received the self-addressed postcard in the post on Friday.

In September 2000, the 66-year-old was on board the Oriana with her husband, Keith, 71, returning from their Ruby wedding celebrations in New York, when the ship was hit by a 40-foot wave which smashed through six cabins.

Three passengers were cut by glass after the freak wave shattered windows and flooded cabins and four had to be treated for shock.

Remembering the events, Mrs Scott-Green, who has vowed never to sail on a cruise ship again, said: "It was a violent experience and the QE2 was standing by just in case. It was a very serious occasion and we were told to put our lifejackets on and sit with our backs to the wall."

The Corsham pensioner had been hoping for a trouble-free journey after the disappointment of having her Concorde flight to the States cancelled following its crash in Paris two months earlier.

But disaster fears were sparked when the force 10 gale struck the cruiser, so Mrs Scott-Green hurriedly scribbled a message on a postcard, squeezed it into a bottle and threw it overboard.

It read: "I threw this bottle off the Oriana on Thursday 28th September. It is very rough. Have had damage to six porthole windows. Now have been repaired. We are in the middle of the Atlantic. Been to New York."

Jersey islander Tony Andrews recovered the bottle three weeks ago while out fishing with his son, Benjamin, at Siquet Bay.

After reading the postcard's address he contacted his cousin Sheila Jennings, of Bath, who told the Corsham couple about the find during a visit to the town on May 15.

"It was such a surprise to get it back," said Mrs Scott-Green. "It's still in an excellent condition and came with a map to show where it was found."

Further surprises were still to come, as following a chat, the Corsham pensioner discovered Mrs Jennings was evacuated to Churchill Road (now Churchill Way) in the north Wiltshire town when the Germans invaded Jersey during the Second World War.

Here she attended Red Cross lectures at Mrs Scott-Green's home, the site of the charity's former headquarters and former home of the High Sheriff of Wiltshire, and later trained as a nurse. Mrs Jennings' parents are buried in Corsham.

"It's amazing to think she has visited my home before," said Mrs Scott-Green. "There were so many coincidences, as I was also a nurse and like Mrs Jennings I have been married for 40 years."