Swanage pensioners have been friends for 86 years

Pamela Wright, Mary Betteridge, Freda Jackson and Elsie Marsay first met at school in 1935 when they were three-years-old.

The grandmothers, who are all now aged 89 and widowed, have kept in touch ever since and still regularly meet up for lunch and talk everyday on the phone.

The quartet in Swanage

They went to each other's weddings, holidayed together and have been introduced to their respective great-grandchildren.

The quartet, who were born and raised in the Victorian seaside town of Swanage, Dorset, put the longevity of their friendship down to 'lots of laughter'.

They reminisce fondly about their childhood escapades, including visits to local sea caves where they watched donkeys at the quarry hauling stones.

Mary, who was the smallest, was even dangled upside down over a sea wall to grab out-of-reach flowers.

Pam had a bicycle shed at the bottom of the garden where they would smoke cigarettes and invite boys over.

When they were almost rumbled by her father, they hid their male visitor under some coats to avoid detection.

The friends all became mothers in the 1950s and while Pam and Freda stayed in Swanage, Elsie moved to Salisbury, Wilts, and Mary emigrated to Melbourne in Australia.

But they kept in touch through letters and by the late 1960s they are all back living in Swanage, where they have remained since.

Pam, 89, a former haberdashery manager, said: "We first met aged three at school and we were friends straight away.

"Back then you could play together on the high street.

"My parents had a bike shed at the bottom of the garden and we had half of it with a table, chairs and a shelf.

"We would smoke cigarettes and invite boys there.

"One afternoon, there was a boy we knew and we invited him over but my dad came so we shoved him in the corner and covered him in coats.

"We loved camping and visiting the caves to look at the donkeys.

"Mary is the smallest so we once lifted her upside down and dangled her over the edge to pick some flowers.

"She managed to get one and we hauled her back up.

"I still can't believe we did that - if our mothers had known they would have fainted.

"When we started our families we all stayed in touch.

"Mary moved to Australia but we wrote her letters and since the 1960s we have all been based in Swanage."

Elsie, a former shop worker, said the four women could talk to each other about anything. She said: "I can go to them and tell them things you could not tell anyone else."

Freda, a former sales assistant, responded: "We can never stop being friends as we know too many secrets!"

Mary, who was a tailoress, is described as the 'adventurous' one, Elsie the 'fashionista' and Freda 'is serious but once she starts laughing she can't stop'.

Of Pam, Mary joked: "She is in charge."

In recent years, the friends have been a source of moral support following the loss of their husbands.

Freda said: "Pam and my husbands died about four years ago so we call each other every night at 7pm for half an hour."

Pam added: "It has been hard but we all know what we are going through."

Elsie has three children, nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, Pam has one child and two grandchildren, Mary has three children, 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and Freda has three children, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.