A Moray teenager has been reunited with a message in a bottle that she cast to sea more than 15 years ago.
Buckie High School pupil, Emily Plant, returned home last night clutching souvenirs from Iceland after being invited to tell her tale to international dignitaries.
While on stage at the Arctic Circle Assembly, the governor of Yamalo-Nenets in Siberia handed the Findochty resident her letter back in a frame.
But the note was not the only message in a bottle the 17-year-old received with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon penning a personal letter to Ms Plant, before sealing it in a glass bottle.
After returning home to Findochty last night, the S6 pupil was still coming to terms with the whirlwind three-day trip.
She said: “It was amazing, but a bit bizarre. I think it will take a couple of days to process it all. It’s all a bit of a blur.
“When I got the message back, they asked me to say something. It all happened so quickly, so I just said thank you and mentioned it ties in nicely with Findochty turning 300.
“Nicola Sturgeon even mentioned me in her speech, which was bizarre. I didn’t expect that. She mentioned she sent messages in bottles when she was young, but they were never found.”
The note, which had travelled more than 2,000 miles to the Russian coast, was sent as part of the Findochty’s gala celebrations in 2001 when Ms Plant was two.
Shona Conlin from the village’s community council accompanied the high school pupil on the trip after helping organise the initial challenge that saw the bottle begin its journey 15 years ago.
After some translation difficulties, Ms Plant and Ms Conlin gave a bottle of whisky to the Russian governor in friendship.
Now, plans are being made to commemorate the lemonade bottle’s sea voyage from Moray to Siberia with a plaque in Findochty.
However, Ms Plant intends to hang on to the personal message from the first minister as a permanent memento of the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
She added: “It’s definitely going to go on display in the house somewhere.”
Ms Conlin said: “It just so happened that the governor from Russia and Nicola Sturgeon were both going to this conference when the letter washed up.
“It was brilliant he got to hand it over personally and we got to build a friendship with him.”
