Couple’s amazing reunion
SURPRISE AS COUPLE SEPARATED BY ILLNESS BOTH END UP IN NIGHTINGALE HOSPITAL
WHEN Bill Adams used to meet the woman he would marry, Ivy, at Manchester Central Station he never imagined they would end up back there in very different circumstances more than 60 years later.
The couple would rendezvous underneath the old clock as Ivy made her way from Liverpool to meet Bill in the city during the 1950s.
They have been happily married for 64 years and have two sons, a daughter, and three grandchildren.
Ivy and Bill spent their first days as a couple courting at the old railway station on Deansgate, and the building holds many fond memories for the two of them.
In April 2020, the former station, and more recently the Manchester Convention Complex, was transformed into an emergency hospital in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nearly 70 years on from when the couple first met, Ivy, now 84, was transferred to the Nightingale Hospital for rehabilitation after a major hip operation in February.
The North West Nightingale Hospital had closed during the summer of 2020 as the need for hospital beds declined, but reopened to non-Covid patients in October.
Ivy’s bed faced the old impressive clock she used to look at while waiting for Bill to meet her at the station all those years ago. She was devastated when she learned that Bill, 86, had been admitted to Salford Royal Hospital while she was recovering after having a fall at home.
Unbeknown to Ivy, NHS staff arranged for Bill to be transferred to the Nightingale Hospital, as he too needed rehabilitation, and was desperate to be reunited with Ivy.
“It was a big surprise to her – she burst out crying,” Bill said. “All of the ward staff were getting together and crying too. They thought it was so great that we were back to where we started.
“Ivy was very pleased to see me. Her bed was looking directly at the clock and my bed was directly underneath the clock. It is something we could never have imagined happening. It was a marvellous experience. We never expected to be there as patients.”
The couple have since been discharged back to their home in Urmston, Trafford, but are already reminiscing about their stay in the hospital together. “When I arrived I was delighted that my bed was actually facing the same big clock Bill and I used to meet under when we were courting more than 60 years ago,” Ivy said. “That brought back such lovely memories from my younger days. I must say I have never been looked after like this, it’s like being in the Grand Hotel.”
Bill said he was delighted to have been able to join Ivy at the hospital after spending a difficult few weeks apart.
He had suffered a nasty fall at home as he prepared to take their dog Yorkie out for a walk, which resulted him spending nearly two weeks at Salford Royal Hospital.
“The Nightingale staff are absolutely outstanding.
“Nothing is too much trouble for them, and they make a real effort to get to know the patients and make them feel cared for and important,” he said.
One member of staff even arranged for a poem to be written about the couple, and staff brought in some old pictures of the Nightingale from when it was a station. NHS staff also had a whip round and arranged for a print to be made as a present to Ivy and Bill for their 64th wedding anniversary last week. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Nightingale hospitals across the country would be ‘stood down’ over the coming weeks.