IT'S been a long and lonely wait but Jack Hammond has finally got two new drinking buddies.

The 88-year-old greatgranddad will never have to go to the pub alone again thanks to Henry Rosenvinge and Trevor Pugh.

They are two of the kind-hearted people who offered companionship to the war hero after he found himself without someone to share a tipple with when he moved home last November.

Jack's family chose Henry and Trevor from a host of Daily Echo readers and other volunteers who came forward after we highlighted his plight earlier this month.

Jack's son, Michael, became so desperate to find a drinking buddy for his dad that he placed an advert in the local post office appealing for prospective drinking partners and offering £7-anhour plus expenses.

The moving story struck a chord around the world and was even quoted in a lecture by a professor at an Australian university.

Since moving to Forest Edge Care Home in Cadnam from Barton-on- Sea last November, Jack had found it hard to find a pal to join him for a pint.

Now Henry and Trevor will accompany Jack to The Compass Inn in Winsor several times a week.

Trevor, 78, of Sutherland Road, Lordshill, Southampton, said: "I saw the story in the Echo with Jack's photograph so I rang up and agreed to take him out twice a week.

If he wants to go out for a day or go to the cricket this summer I will take him. There is ten years difference in our ages but we are both ex-Army so we have that in common."

Henry, 58, of Emery Down, Lyndhurst, said the pair had a lot in common.

He said: "He has a lot of stories and we are both from Lancashire so we have a lot we can argue about. I'm looking to come once a week for a couple of hours but we will be careful - we know what our limits are with alcohol.

I'm looking forward to coming down here with him for a number of months or even years."

Jack's son Michael, 56, a chef from Brockenhurst, said: "I'm really pleased everything's worked out well. I'm amazed by the response from the original story. I've got two really nice chaps to take dad down the pub now. He's now going to be going down the pub four times a week."

Jack, a former radar technician during the Second World War, said: "I think they are very enjoyable and I'm looking forward to continuing going down the pub with both of them."