Class of 1998 wanted Ferraris and airing cupboards

Fast cars, holidays and their future houses were among the dreams written down by a class of schoolchildren from St Neot Community Primary School in 1998.

"I think we would have a few more Ferraris in the village if their dreams had come true," said Jenny Hart from the local history group.

The pupils' letter about their dreams of 25 years away were included in a time capsule that was placed beneath paving slabs in a new housing development of eight homes for local people to rent.

It was a passing comment about the time capsule that led Mrs Hart to start the process of rediscovering it since the 25 years had passed.

Richard Northey, who had made the passing comment, said he was convinced he had written he wanted to be a sheep farmer, which he now is, although that was not included in his letter.

He wrote: "In 25 years' time I will have a Zeta four-wheel drive and a Lamborghini four-wheel drive.

"I will have two children. I will have two dogs called Lassie and Flossie.

"I will have a house with four bedrooms with one bathroom and an airing cupboard."

Mr Northey said he did not have a Lamborghini or a house with four bedrooms but he had had a dog called Lassie.

"I think I was quite ambitious at a young age. It was a memory that just stuck with me of us all writing the letters and burying the capsule so it was nice to see what we wrote," he said.

Melanie Lowenna Burn said not a lot had come true in the letter she had written.

"I was going to be an artist, which is rather lovely but it didn't quite work out like that.

"Apparently I would like to live somewhere in Africa, a cottage in the Rain Forest, which sounds lovely but again didn't happen.

"And go to Canada on a holiday, so probably should try and do that one, that would be nice.

"We've moved house a few times and things get thrown away so it's nice to see what you thought back then, what life was going to be like," she said.

The time capsule was buried at the development for locals, underneath paving slabs outside Number 1 Meadow Drive in St Neot.

The total cost of the development was £474,990 and rent was £50 to £56 a week.

They had been built by the former Devon and Cornwall Housing Association - now part of LiveWest, which located the capsule and dug it up.

Mrs Hart said there were 19 letters in the capsule plus a letter from the Housing Association and the children who wrote the letters would have been aged nine or 10.

She said many of the people who had written letters for the time capsule had since moved away from Cornwall.

"We would like to digitise the letters for the history archive, after which the owners of the letters can claim them back," Mrs Hart said.