Perfect match England star marries sweetheart 50yrs later
HOSPITAL BANS STAFF FROM A&E DEMO
FORMER soccer ace Mike Pejic has married his teenage sweetheart – after they lost touch for over half a century.
Ex-England and Stoke defender Mike, now 67, dated Mal Burgess at school but things ended when she moved away from their village to London.
They parted with a kiss on the cheek by the coal bunker outside Mike’s parents’ house – with him too shy to tell her he wanted her to stay.
Mike went on to become a top-flight footballer and Mal forged a career as a successful singer.
Both married and divorced twice and had four kids between them, but never forgot each other. When they met at a funeral two years ago the old spark was reignited and they started dating.
Then, on February 29 last year, Mal proposed to Mike – back on the exact spot where the coal bunker used to stand in Chesterton, Staffs.
Emotions
Mike, who won four England caps in the 1970s and played for Everton and Aston Villa, said of their wedding day: “I was buzzing. I was with the woman who won my heart all those years ago. We’d never really told the story before our wedding day so when I brought it up in my speech a lot of tears were spilled.”
Mal, also 67, added: “When I saw Mike for the first time in 51 years it brought all the emotions flooding back. We never stopped talking.”
As a singer Mal accompanied her sister Jackie Trent, real name Yvonne Burgess, and Jackie’s songwriter hubby Tony Hatch to Australia.
Mike added: “People ask me if I regret not trying to get Mal to stay all those years ago but we’ve had good lives and we’re together now.” HOSPITAL staff were banned from going outside to join a campaign to save their A&E – in case they spread superbugs such as MRSA.
Protest group members who wanted to present workers there with a cake to mark the NHS’s 69th birthday were refused entry to the building.
A staffer, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “We were told that we couldn’t go out in our uniform because if we did we would be disciplined.
“So we couldn’t walk out there and support the cause.”
The threats of disciplinary action against staff were related to infection control policy, claimed Southend Hospital in Essex, whose A&E is being downgraded.
Its director of nursing Denise Townsend said: “Those staffers who wanted to join the protest group outside the hospital were reminded of the Trust’s infection prevention measures, described in the dress code policy, to cover their uniform when outdoors.”
Meanwhile, members of the Save Southend A& E group refused to leave the hospital until they had been allowed in.
The group’s secretary Mike Fieldhouse said: “I have never experienced anything like that. Security told us to be mindful that people were working and that there were ill people in hospital. They asked us to be quiet.”
Protesters were let in to deliver the cake an hour after arriving.
Ms Townsend said: “The cake was gratefully received as soon as it was convenient for staff and the patients in their care.”