A MUM of one has penned a touching letter to three men ‘who have no idea just how important they are’.

Sophie Johnson, of Great Sankey, first met Harry Edge, aged 70, and Jack Clifford, aged 86, both from Great Sankey and Ernie Roberts, aged 79, from Bank Quay, when she was foraging for holly for her wedding to her husband Roland around four years ago on Sankey Valley.

It all started off with a simple hello but the three men, who sit on the same bench every day to watch the world go by, have gone on to become a part of Sophie's and her family's lives.

In an open letter, the 26-year-old talks about the first time she met the three friends.

She said: "It began with a simple hello. As the months quickly passed small comments started to pass between us. ‘Nice day we are having today'."

"Those passing months marked a passage of time during which my new husband and I struggled to conceive our much dreamt of baby.

"Every day I would walk to clear my mind of test results and hospital visits. I began to look forward to passing the bench, and those three wonderful men who always put a smile on my face."

In life it is so easy to let strangers to pass you by without saying hello but this is never the case with Harry, Jack and Ernie, said Sophie.

"The letter is more of thank you to them for being so caring and for just being them. They say hello to everyone who walks past," she said.

Sophie's two-year-old daughter, Beatriz, also counts the three men as her best friends and refuses to walk past the bench where they sit religiously without giving them a cuddle.

In the letter, she adds: Harry, Jack, Ernie, you have no idea how important you are. Not just to us, but to everyone who passes you as you sit at your bench.

"You bring so much joy and happiness to those who know you. A simple greeting will often make a stranger’s day.

"Beatriz, Roland and I love you all so much. Until tomorrow, our dear friends."

To read the full letter below.

There is a little bench that sits atop a small hill. As the seasons blend, and the leaves turn crisp and flutter from the trees, that little bench stays still.

Raindrops trickle down it’s legs. The Sun warms the worn metal frame on long Summer days. Icicles hang beneath it as your breath mists in front of your nose on that cold Winter morning.

The wind may whirl and the snow might slowly begin to fall from heavy skies, and yet, there they sit.

Three men who have no idea just how important they are. For ten years they have taken an hour from their everyday lives to come together and just be friends.

Four years ago as I foraged for Holly for my Christmas Wedding, I walked past those men. They congratulated me as I told them of my upcoming special day.

Everyday as the worst snow for decades settled thickly on the ground, my walk would take me past the bench.

Past the men sat huddled in their winter coats. As the snow melted and the Spring flowers bloomed, past those same men I would walk.

It began with a simple hello. As the months quickly passed small comments started to pass between us. ‘Nice day we are having today.’

Those passing months marked a passage of time during which my new husband and I struggled to conceive our much dreamt of baby.

Every day I would walk to clear my mind of test results and hospital visits.

I began to look forward to passing the bench, and those three wonderful men who always put a smile on my face.

The trees were bare and the wind was cold on the day that my Husband and I walked towards the bench smiling. ‘Can I tell them?’ My Husband asked.

I nodded and grinned with my hand across my tummy, cocooned under a thick coat and a fluffy jumper. We were having a baby. Those three men were delighted.

As my stomach swelled, my feet were walking. Each morning I would get a little slower as I waddled my way towards the bench.

They were always there waiting. Full of questions and happiness. Eager to make me sit down and rest. Sharing in my joy. They became a part of my family, my world. Without them the park was empty.

Harry, Jack and Ernie.

Beatriz was born on Harry’s birthday. It was fate. It was breathtaking and beautiful.

She is now two years old and those three men are her best friends. She draws pictures of them, she asks for them every morning as she pulls on her socks (the wrong way round of course!)

As she slowly skips up the small hill in her red sneakers, she reaches up onto her tiptoes to see if they are waiting.

Her face lights up into a smile and she runs to them. She loves them as they love her. I stand quietly in awe as I watch them cuddle her and tell her they love her.

I laugh as she sits in her spot on the bench and takes her biscuit from Ernie.

Tears fill my eyes as Jack tells her she is beautiful and hands her shiny pennies for ice cream.

Harry, Jack, Ernie, you have no idea how important you are. Not just to us, but to everyone who passes you as you sit at your bench.

You bring so much joy and happiness to those who know you. A simple greeting will often make a stranger’s day. Beatriz, Roland and I love you all so much. Until tomorrow, our dear friends.