WHEN Billy Haggis threw a message in a bottle into the sea, he wasn’t expecting to see it again.

But a month later, a postcard from Iceland – more than a thousand miles away from his Thundersley home – arrived on his doorstep.

Billy’s message had been picked up – but not by a person.

The “magical elves”

who picked up the note told a tale of a whale bringing them the message in a bottle while they had been watching the Northern Lights.

Mum Kelly Haggis, of The Rundels, said: “It’s really lovely.

“My little boy is only six and he doesn’t realise the enormity of it.

“The postcard said they had been watching the Northern Lights and a whale had brought them his message in a bottle.

“It really does restore your faith in human kind when there is so much rubbish going on in the world.”

Billy, Kelly, dad Antony and brother Charlie, two, were walking on the beach in Bognor Regis on Valentines’ weekend when they decided to throw the bottle in as “something to do”.

His message invited anyone who found the bottle to write to him, and included his address.

The family didn’t expect to hear anything, but they received the postcard from Reykjavik, in southwest Iceland, on Thursday morning. And Billy couldn’t wait to show his friends at Thundersley Primary School.

The family had the postmark checked out and were told it was authentic and from Iceland.

Mrs Haggis said: “I didn’t even expect it to be washed up on a beach. We only did it for something to entertain the kids.”

The postcard from the “magical elves” may not be the only message Billy gets.

Mrs Haggis added: “The elves threwit back into the sea so someone else may find it, too. Who knows where it could end up.”