Paul McCartney has replied to two fans who first contacted him 50 years ago.

BBC News reports that McCartney wrote a reply to Barbara Bezant and Lyn Phillips decades after they recorded a message on to tape in 1963 and sent it to the Finsbury Park Astoria in London, where The Beatles were performing live. The tape was later found at a car boot sale with its buyer deciding to try and locate the two women.

After contacting the BBC with the tape, David McDermott, a local historian, discovered that the two women had drifted apart in the subsequent years. Audio from the tape recorded in the ’60s includes the women saying: “This dream is just to come round the back and see you, but I don’t suppose that’ll ever happen. But we can always live in hope, can’t we?” However, the tape never made it to McCartney.

The BBC managed to reunite the two fans after 40 years and took them to The Beatles Story exhibition in Liverpool, where they were given a written reply from McCartney. Writing to Bezant and Phillips, McCartney wrote: “Hi Linda and Barbara, thanks very much for you lovely tape. It finally got through, better late than never. Great to hear that you found each other after all these years. Keep enjoying the music, love Paul.”