TWO former Helensburgh school friends have been reunited after spending 50 years apart – thanks to the power of social media.

Catherine Ainsworth and Valerie Mccallum, both 70, grew up together after becoming acquainted at the town’s Hermitage Primary and former secondary school.

Separated by just three weeks age difference, the pair were best pals throughout most of their childhood but after following divergent career paths and finding love, their close friendship was diminished to nothing more than hearsay or a brief catch-up when bumping into each other over the years.

Valerie said: “We did meet up once when Catherine was in town, in what must have been around 1971 at a shop in Helensburgh, and she told me she had a surprise for me: she showed me her engagement ring.

“I then told her to come outside as I had an even bigger surprise for her; my son was there in his pram.

“Over the years things happen and change and we just lost touch.”

Catherine joined the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) in her early twenties, worked in Belgium for 11 years, before getting married and settling in the United States of America, where she has raised daughters Heather and Alison.

Meanwhile, Valerie also got married, travelling from country to country wherever her ex-husband was posted in the army and returning to the peninsula in 1998, where she now lives in Rosneath, after 28 years away.

Despite a lack of up-to-date information on each other and the obvious distance barrier, the relationship was rekindled in 2018 when Catherine posted an appeal on social media searching for her long-lost friend.

Less than half an hour later, the two were back in contact for the first time in half a century.

“My sister said to me that ‘someone is looking for you on the Helensburgh Memories Facebook page’ and I checked it and recognised the face,” Valerie explained. “Obviously she didn’t know my married name and I didn’t know hers.”

Catherine said: “I had tried to find Val by posting in the British Facebook but I’d never had any luck.

“I then joined Helensburgh Memories and within 10 minutes I had found her.”

The two quickly got chatting, reminiscing on old times and planning future meet-ups. And in January this year, Valerie, who’s son Neil is a football coach in Texas, met up with Catherine again while over visiting.

Valerie said: “My son lives not too far away from Catherine in Texas and I go out to visit him at least once a year, so for all these years I had been going out there and didn’t even know that we were so close to each other.

“It was surreal meeting up with her again and seeing someone I had been such close friends with after such a long time.

“We had so many stories to share. I was a bit wary at first at meeting up but we hit it off straight away and it was as if we hadn’t been apart. It’s nice having her back in my life.

“We talk every day now and if we go a few days without speaking, then I’ll get a message from Catherine saying she misses me!”

Catherine added: “My father used to work in Malaysia, so I would go over to Malaya for one or two years at a time throughout my life. But Val and I always found our way back together.

“We never missed a beat when I would come home, just like when we met up again after 50 years apart.

“When she came over to her son's place in Houston this year we met up and 50 years just melted away. We drove to New Orleans for three days and had a great time.

“It was amazing to find my best friend again and catch up with all her life.”