The Sutton Guardian was scrambled to the home of a Wallington couple caught up in last week’s snow following an SOS call from their Finnish relatives.

Frank and Jennie Hawthorne, aged 90 and 93 respectively, had been uncontactable for several days as news of the chilling temperatures filtered through to Scandinavia.

Allie Lehtinen, the Hawthorne’s grand-daughter who lives in Finland, contacted the newsroom as the couple were featured in the paper after celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary in October.

Mrs Lehtinen said: “I am just a worried grand-daughter who hasn’t seen them for so many years and now cannot get in touch with them.

“I’ve heard they were struggling to keep their house warm.”

But thankfully, when we visited their home in Hawthorne Road, the happy couple were warm and well-fed and merely had some communication issues.

Mrs Hawthorne said: “We have just had a bit of a problem with our telephone but we are ever so grateful you came round to check on us.”

The Hawthorne’s, who married in 1940, have lived in Wallington since 1952 and have a huge family with seven children, twelve grandchildren an seven great-grandchildren.