Anchor Oulton Manor residents Arthur and Maureen Cawood are marking their first Valentine’s Day in a Leeds care home together after recently celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary with their beloved pet budgie Billy.
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00:00 Her father liked to pint a beer and play dominoes and he brought his daughter down one night
00:09 to go in the music room and I happened to be there. That was the first time I saw her.
00:17 The start of a lifelong romance. 89-year-old Arthur Kayward was born and raised in the
00:22 Bull's Head pub in Holbeck. It was there he met Maureen.
00:26 I'm stood there waiting for the thing and a voice says to me, I don't know what it was,
00:35 whether it was, I'm so and so now, will you be coming again?
00:41 Going to the pub tonight? Out with me.
00:45 First time I saw her I had to ask my mother who she was. She says, oh she's one of Mrs
00:52 Brown's daughters, I think she's married. I should have listened to my mother.
00:58 When Maureen was recently diagnosed with dementia, Arthur moved in to anchor Alton Manor Care
01:03 Home with her as he couldn't bear the thought of being without her. They recently celebrated
01:07 their 67th wedding anniversary and they live with their beloved pet budgie, Billy.
01:14 We had a dog, we had a Basset, Samantha, and when we had to say goodbye to her, we looked
01:29 round and couldn't, the dog was great, but the teen. So we got a budgie and we've had
01:40 numerous budgies ever since because we've always called him 'Oh Billy' to avoid confusion.
01:47 As well as a love of birds, Arthur and Maureen are big fans of boats and helped set up what
01:52 is now the Thorn Cruising Club with fellow enthusiasts. Here at Alton Manor they're continuing
01:57 to make friends at a range of live entertainment sessions and activities.
02:02 I'm lucky enough to be one of the people here that can organise all these things and just
02:07 make sure that they continue loving life and each other and they have every opportunity
02:12 to do all of the things that they want to do. We like to see it as the next step of
02:18 them being here, the next step of their life and a new chapter. It's just a privilege to
02:23 be a part of it really is. We have a few couples here, so we've got Lowe's
02:28 planned for Valentine's Day, we've got Karen Clegg coming in who used to be a Broadway
02:33 singer, even featured on Doctor Who at some point, so we have all the stars here.
02:39 So following over 67 years of romance, what is the secret to a happy marriage?
02:44 You've got to be friends, you've got to be friends. And you've got to be busy, we've
02:52 always been busy. It's a feeling for each other, you know, we like being together. I
03:00 And don't regret marrying her anyway.
03:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]