Man breaks down after reuniting with wife of 69 years at Lancashire nursing home

A 92-year-old great-grandad was reunited with his beloved wife in his care home after three months apart.

Malcolm Wareing sobbed when he caught sight of wife of 69 years Edna, 89, and told her "I've missed you" before they shared a kiss.

The ex-moulder had pleaded with staff at Chapel Lodge Care home in Burnley for months to "promise" that they would bring his wife of 69 years to be with him.

And they had worked "very hard" to keep the news that she would be moving into the residence a secret before the surprise meeting on Thursday.

Care home manager Kathy Crossley, 58, said: "It's a true love story.

"With all my years working in care, since I was 18, I have never ever experienced anything like it in my life. I can’t stop thinking about it.

"Me and his family set it up. It was very, very hard keeping the secret."

She added: "It was fantastic, it was so emotional. We were just all crying - the family and me and my staff - we were sobbing, we just couldn’t believe it.

"We could just see the love and how much he had missed her and how much it meant to him. It was beautiful."

Staff at the care home said they had made plans weeks ago to bring the pair back together after they had spent three months apart.

And on the day, they were initially left in tears when Malcolm asked for the first song he bought for her, Here in My Heart by Al Martino, to be played on their speakers.

Malcolm used a tissue to brush away his tears before suddenly turning to find Enda sitting beside him in a wheelchair.

He broke down again as the pair embraced, and later found out she would be coming to live with him permanently at the home.

Kathy said: "He was sat in the lounge with the staff at dinner time, and he was doing his exercises, and we just started talking about his wife.

"One of the carers asked what his favourite song was.

"And he said, 'I still remember the very first song that I bought my wife'. We played that, and we were all crying before his sh even came.

"He kept saying to me, because I’m the manager, 'You will promise me, won’t you? You will try and get her in, won't you'.

"I kept saying, 'Yeah, I promise, I really, really promise.' I said I'll even pinky promise you. So we got our fingers together and did a little pinky promise.

"But I knew she was coming in, otherwise I wouldn’t have said that. It was very emotional."