Andrew and Beverley – ‘A Lockdown Wedding!’

April 28, 2020 Chris 6199 Views 0 Comments

Andrew and Beverley met on 23^rd September 2016 in Ashton. Beverley is from Saddleworth and Andrew from Romiley, Cheshire. Since meeting they have only ever had one night apart, and in November 2016 Beverley moved into Andrew’s home in Romiley.

Beverley is a mental health nurse and Andrew was a musician (Drummer) although he had in the past worked as an ambulanceman and in child care. He spent some 3 years working on the island of Fuerteventura and fell in love with a small fishing village ‘El Cotillo’ whilst he was there. In January 2017 he took Beverley there, and she too fell in love with the place, and they both said that was the place that they wanted to get married.

They both have a love of music and spend many hours listening to music, and both love dancing and going to live concerts. Their days have been filled with laughter and music, and thoroughly enjoying life together.

They decided to buy a tent (for a laugh) but loved camping and spent, virtually the whole of summer 2018 at Well-i-hole, in Greenfield. Beverley’s family would come to spend time at the tent, or they would walk and meet friends in Uppermill. They even ended up on SKY news! as they were there when the moors were on fire. One of the best times the couple ever had was at the Cotton Clouds festival and booked tickets for the year later as soon as they got back.

It was after the Cotton clouds camping trip, that Andrew began to have serious pain in his leg and hips. Many many investigations were done and many many different possible diagnoses were made, but nothing was conclusive. Over the following 12 months, Andrew began to deteriorate, to the point where he was unable to walk far, very fatigued and generally felt ‘poorly’. In November he ended up in the hospital and was then told he had a terminal illness, and that there was no treatment they could offer him, apart from trying to alleviate the symptoms. In March this year, he again deteriorated and spent a week in the hospital again, and it was then that he was referred to the palliative care team at Stepping Hill Hospital, and the lovely Breeda Shevlin became his Macmillan Nurse. They found it hard not being able to have the physical hugs and contact with our families, at such an emotional time.

Beverley and Andrew knew that they would not be able to get to El Cotillo to marry, but knew they wanted to get married. Andrew had already been in touch with the Registrar at Stockport and Beverley had written to the GP to email the registrar, confirming Andrews diagnosis and inability to attend the registry office, however, in came Breeda, and after their first meeting, she marched straight over to the GP surgery and sat with the GP whilst they emailed the Registrar. On the same day (Friday 10^th April) they received a phone call to say that they had gained a ‘special circumstances license’ and that they could be married at home and were booked in for Friday 17^th April at 3 pm.

Andrew had to go into hospital 2 days before the wedding for a procedure that is quite unpleasant and made him feel very tired, so Beverley spent the day making decorations, She managed to get some wedding Bunting from a neighbour and ordered some cupcakes from a lovely lady who actually gifted them to the couple, and then Beverley tried to make the room as ‘Weddingy’ as possible. Luckily Beverley had bought a dress when the couple were trying to organise getting married in El Cotillo.

Breeda had been visiting the couple regularly and talking to them about many things, like what was their favourite meal, favourite flower, favourite colours, music etc.

On Thursday 16^th April at just before 8 pm Breeda the Macmillan Nurse arrived just as the whole of Romiley was applauding for the NHS and other essential workers, and she had bags and boxes of gifts, a Wedding cake, a beautiful bouquet of vintage roses (Beverley’s favourite flower), bunches of flowers, a Chinese meal (the couple’s favourite), bunting, salmon, mackerel, candles, balloons, bath/body lotions, chocolates, desserts, cakes-bouquets-and-prosecco strawberries, plus so much more, that she had sourced from Marks & Spencers, Waitrose, Tesco and local shops. The couple was overwhelmed and in tears, there was a lovely card from the staff at Waitrose Cheadle congratulating them on their Wedding Day. Breeda had shared the couple’s story with these stores and shops, and they all went that extra mile to make their day so special.

On Friday 17^th April, the couple spent the morning listening to some of their favourite music, Andrew had just had his morphine increased and they were trying to balance out how much to take so that he wouldn’t be too drowsy, but would subdue the pain enough, to get through the day. At 11 o’clock Beverley heard Andrew on the phone, he had called Mike Sweeney at BBC Radio Manchester, to ask him to do a ‘Shout out’ to all the people that had helped make the day possible, however, they got a call back to ask if he would let Mike talk to him on the programme live, so at 11.29 am Andrew was sharing their story to the whole of Manchester!

Beverley put a thank you on the Village Romiley FB page thanking Breeda, everyone at our GP surgery, the Registrars in Stockport, and everyone that had sent gifts and helped made the day possible, and asked the village to help us celebrate and thank everyone, by applauding at 3.30 pm following the ceremony.

At 2.15 pm Beverley’s Brother and his wife (Witnesses: Mike & Gill Nield ) arrived and set up a ‘go pro’ to record the wedding and get ready to ‘Go Live’ on Facebook. It had been so hard for them not being able to have any of their family and friends present at the wedding, but felt at least people could at least be a part of it all if we went ‘live’, but it all depended on how Andrew felt, as he did not really want people to see him how he is at the moment, but on the day, he decided that it was the best way to let everyone join in.

The registrars arrived at 2.50 pm, and after a very informal chat, the ceremony began!

The couples lovely Yorkshire Terrier ‘Boo’ was the chief Bridesmaid, and it was just magical.

Soon after the ceremony ended the couple heard, cheers, applauding and music outside their home. When they went outside they were greeted by many villagers they knew and lots they didn’t, along with their friends that had come from other areas, all standing 2 metres apart, but all felt so close. Sandra and Liz Carr-Collins were there with their car doors wide open and Cliff Richard’s Congratulations playing full blast! Friends and family all over the world watched the Wedding Live and hundreds commented and send good wishes, many were in tears, many raised their glasses, but everyone was happy for the newlyweds.