Words and Picture: Mike McKenzie

Last updated 15:54, Wednesday, 22 October 2008

WILLIS Metherell got the shock of her life when she received the engagement ring she never had on her diamond wedding anniversary.

 

She Waited 60 years for here engagement ring. Photo CE Willis

DIAMOND SURPRISE: Stainton Metherell slips the diamond engagement ring onto his wife Willis’s finger

The former Copeland Mayor’s husband, Stainton, presented her with the ring on their special day last Thursday.

Because money was tight in the days after the war, and with rationing still in force, the couple agreed to wait a while before buying a ring. But with the trials and tribulations of starting married life and having children, they never got around to it.

Sixty years on, Stainton said: “I thought that, after all these years of married life, it was time to put that right.” And in front of a couple of close friends, including the couple’s original bridesmaid Beryl Hodgson (née Jackson), he produced the diamond ring.

Overcome with emotion, Willis wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big kiss.

The Copeland councillor had just returned home after a stay in hospital, so the couple’s planned anniversary party had to be cancelled. Instead they had a quiet family get-together to celebrate.