Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MY BEAUTIFUL BACKYARD
Today’s garden is also a love story between two special people who celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary next year. Jacqueline and Colin Wainwright’s son Simon wrote in to tell us how a shared passion for gardening has been the secret of their happy marriage…
Simon writes: “My mum Jacqueline and my dad Colin have just had their 59th wedding anniversary after meeting 60 years ago under the clock tower at Euston Station in London. They were engaged within a few months and married two months later.
“They’ve been in love ever since and never argue at all, and their love of gardening has been their passion. Mum is 79 years old now and dad will be 80 in three weeks’ time. They live in Runcorn, Cheshire.
“Dad’s garden is his lifeline, especially after having had a stroke and triple heart bypass – he’s not as active as he was, but he will never give up gardening.
“Mum and Dad sit every day watching the birds and bees enjoying their wonderful backyard. It’s a small garden with a pond that always had fish until the good old heron came and had his breakfast.
“The birds, bees and frogs have all made themselves at home, and dad feeds them and makes handmade boxes for the birds to nest in.
“Each flower in the corner of the garden holds a story, a connection to our beloved pets who have passed away. We would bury their ashes and Mum and Dad would plant a rose as a memorial to them.
“I have tried to go out and learn to be green-fingered like them, until Dad sees me and tells me off for even touching his beloved garden!” my favourite blast from the past is gobstoppers.
“My mother used to give me a penny to spend at the paper shop. I was allowed to have sherbert dabs, aniseed balls, gobstoppers or a lolly.
“I used to choose a gobstopper (which was so big I could hardly get it in my mouth!) This used to change colour as you sucked it!”
Another reader with a sweet tooth, Wendy Tilley in Ely, Cardiff, remembers her favourite chocolate bar from the 1970s. She writes: “Being a chocolate lover, it’s hard to choose. But it used to be Ice Breaker, which was dark chocolate with a thin, crisp line of green mint going through the centre. Bliss!”
The grandmother of four had an eye for the pin-ups back in the day too. She says, “I loved the Bay City Rollers, Donny Osmond and David Cassidy.
“But the big one for me was Pete Duel (pictured left) in the comedy western TV series Alias Smith and Jones. I cried like a baby when he committed suicide on December 31, 1971!”