KEN AND JEAN REUNITED AFTER BEING FORCED APART FOR 73RD ANNIVERSARY
A COUPLE who had to celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary apart because social services would not let them be in the same care home have finally been reunited after being separated for months.
Jean and Ken Charvill, orginally from Mickleover, were parted in August after Mr Charvill was sent to the Victoria Park Care Home in Ilkeston following discharge from Royal Derby Hospital.
Mrs Charvill was left alone at home to cope, with help from her daughter Sue Barradell and carers.
But after several stays in hospital because she contracted urinary infections, Mrs Barradell pleaded with Derby City Council to let her mum join her father in the Ilkeston care home as she felt she should not be left to cope on her own.
Finally, in mid-December and after checks at Perth House assessment centre in Chaddesden, the council relented and Mrs Charvill, 90, was able to move to Victoria Park – but too late for the couple’s landmark anniversary on December 6.
Once there, she had to be placed in quarantine for 14 days and so she was still not able to see her husband - and the pair missed having Christmas together.
But finally, on December 30, Mr and Mrs Charvill were allowed to meet again briefly although because Mr Charvill, 93, has been unwell, they were only able to meet at his bedside and not have the tea together that had been planned.
Mrs Barradell said: “The home, quite rightly, insisted on the full 14 days quarantine to protect all the other residents. They have both had their Covid vaccinations now which is good. The only setback over Christmas was that we did not get to see them either.
“On Christmas Eve, I went with my daughter to visit but a test there showed she was positive so we had to leave immediately and we have been isolating ever since.
“I am hoping we will be able to visit them as soon as possible.”
The only worry for the family now is that social services are expected to review Mrs Barradell’s situation today and they are praying that she will be allowed to stay there as she has settled in so well.
Mrs Barradell said: “She will only have been out of quarantine for a week, I really hope they do not want to send her back home, especially as she seems to have settled into the home and feels safe there, which certainly would not be the case if she was at home alone. All I am now hoping is that now they have been reunited, they can remain together.”
Mrs Barradell, 72, and her husband, who have had to shield during the pandemic because of underlying health problems, say they have been unable to support Mrs Charvill as much as they would like.
Of the couple’s other three children – one is living abroad but has been back to support her mum during the autumn, one is in London and the other is a key worker at the Royal Derby Hospital.
The coronavirus pandemic means that the family has mainly only been allowed to wave to Mr Charvill through the window and the family gets a report of how he is doing.
Mrs Barradell said: “When mum was being looked after by carers, they would come four times a day and stay for about 30 minutes during which time they had to do eve
rything and there was no-one there overnight to make sure she was dry and comfortable. The carers do their best but it is not right for my mum’s needs.”
Three years ago, the Derby Telegraph featured the couple celebrating their
70th wedding anniversary with family and friends. They said at the time that “trust and agreeing to disagree” was the secret behind their long marriage. The couple married at St Thomas’s Church in Derby on an icy December 6, 1947 – the same year as the Queen and Prince Philip. The couple had four children, Susan, Peter, Neil and Shirley, and now have nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
They have both had their Covid vaccinations now which is good. Daughter Sue Barradell