![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_274315185-752d.jpg\")
\n\t\tLorraine Forbes and the \u2018message in a bottle\u2019 that was returned to her with an angry note (Picture: Isobel Williams\/SWNS)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tLorraine Forbes and the \u2018message in a bottle\u2019 that was returned to her with an angry note (Picture: Isobel Williams\/SWNS)<\/p>\n
A woman who regularly threw plastic bottles with letters inside into the sea received a reply \u2013 telling her to stop littering.<\/p>\n
Lorraine Forbes, 58, has long been sending her \u2018message in a bottle\u2019s off the coast of East Sussex <\/a>in the hope of making a romantic connection.<\/p>\n A few of her attempts have reached as far as Holland and France<\/a>, but most, she admits, have washed up on the shores of nearby beaches. <\/p>\n Although some people have replied to say they found the bottles, none have led to romances, and a recent response may have put an end to her unconventional search for love.<\/p>\n Lorraine said she received a box full of rocks in the post that also contained one her bottles with a message she\u2019d written on the back of a John Lydon gig flyer, along with an angry note from a litter picker.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n The note read: \u2018Please stop throwing rubbish in the sea. It goes to Pevensey Bay or Normans Bay, one day later. Many thanks, a rubbish picker.\u2019<\/p>\n The parcel cost her \u00a37 to receive, which she said made the response particularly \u2018nasty\u2019. <\/p>\n \t\t Lorraine, who lives in Eastbourne<\/a>, said her intentions were only to spark a connection.<\/p>\n \u2018I have been sending the letters for years. Whoever writes back to me rarely want to meet me, they just tell me where they found them,\u2019 she explained.<\/p>\n \u2018I just wanted a bit of romance. It has always been a hobby of mine. It is an old-fashioned thing.<\/p>\n \u2018It was a cowardly litter picker who sent me the response. I had to pay \u00a37 to receive it. I think that it is really nasty. They were trying to make a point and teach me a lesson.\u2019<\/p>\n She said the person didn\u2019t reveal their name so she\u2019ll never know who sent the box.<\/p>\n \u2018If they had I would demand that they give me my \u00a37 back,\u2019 she added. <\/p>\n Lorraine\u00a0usually throws the bottles off Eastbourne pier in bulk, using plastic bottles rather than glass ones so they don\u2019t shatter on their travels.<\/p>\n She admitted, however, that she has been told off in the past for the impact her littering could have on wildlife.<\/p>\n She said that although the litter picker\u2019s method had been cruel, it had been a wakeup call that environmental health officials might find the bottles with her address on them and take action. <\/p>\n \u2018Eastbourne Harbour have told me off before for throwing the bottles into the water, they keep trying to stop me,\u2019 Lorraine said. <\/p>\n \u2018I probably won\u2019t keep doing it. This has made me realise that environmental health could find my letters with my name and address and I might get in legal trouble.\u2019<\/p>\n In September a British boy who threw a \u2018message in a bottle\u2019 into the sea at South Shields, Tyne and Wear received a reply to say it had floated 4,200 miles<\/a> to St Lucia in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_274316686-48ee.jpg\")
\n\t\tLorraine said the message was returned in a box of rocks that cost \u00a37 to receive (Picture: Tony Kershaw\/SWNS)<\/p>\n
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