 Welcome to Soul Mates, Metro.co.uk's weekly friendship series, where friends share the stories of how they met. Before the Stylers, the BeyHive and the Swifties, there was the Thatters – the Take That fandom, born in the early 90s, that were as passionate as the cowboy hat-wearing gig goers of today. Amy Rowland was one of those Take That devotees. At just eight-years-old in the mid-90s, there was no better man than Mark Owen (her allegiance later shifted to Gary Barlow), and Babe was a musical masterpiece. Now 38 and living in London, Amy says: 'My walls back at home in Derby were covered in posters of Take That, and when I finally went to my first concert in 1994 with my Dad, I knew I'd die happy. I loved everything about them.' Amy didn't think anyone could love the band as much as her – that is, until she began writing to her new pen pal. The 38-year-old explains: 'It sounds farfetched, but my mum's boss' granddaughter was also a big Take That fan, so they decided to put us in touch. 'Rachael lived out in Libya with her family, because her dad worked there, so the only way we could contact each other was by sending letters.' Amy was a die hard Gary fan at home in Derby (Picture: Supplied) While Rachael was a Robbie fan living in Libya (Picture: Supplied) It was Amy that first put pen to paper, detailing her love of Take That to her potential new pal. Amy recalls: 'We couldn't use the post, as Libya was a turbulent place back then too, so we relied on people visiting to hand deliver the letters – colleagues of Rachael's dad or family members. We managed to get a letter to each other about every other month. 'We'd send each other pages and pages, all about our love of Take That – looking back, I have no idea how we had so much to say about them. And we'd send pictures of all our memorabilia: from the posters to the duvet covers and the dolls.' And, as the pair got older, they continued to shar){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Welcome to Soul Mates, Metro.co.uk’s weekly friendship series, where friends share the stories of how they met.
Before the Stylers, the BeyHive and the Swifties, there was the Thatters – the Take That fandom, born in the early 90s, that were as passionate as the cowboy hat-wearing gig goers of today.
Amy Rowland was one of those Take That devotees. At just eight-years-old in the mid-90s, there was no better man than Mark Owen (her allegiance later shifted to Gary Barlow), and Babe was a musical masterpiece.
Now 38 and living in London, Amy says: ‘My walls back at home in Derby were covered in posters of Take That, and when I finally went to my first concert in 1994 with my Dad, I knew I’d die happy. I loved everything about them.’