AFTER spending 46 years together a local couple exchanged their wedding vows on the Covid ward at Coventry’s University Hospital – thanks to ‘amazing’ staff.
Phillip, 78, and Patricia, 88 – who is being treated for Covid-19 – had planned to get married after the pandemic, but after a year of waiting they sought the help of staff to hold an impromptu ceremony at UHCW on Friday (January 29).
The day before Joanna Shakespeare, a Respiratory Clinical Scientist and service manager at the hospital posted a tweet calling for assistance:
It said: “We are desperately seeking a registrar to perform a civil wedding ceremony on Covid ward @nhsuhcw @live_coventry can anyone urgently help?”
Coventry Registry Office quickly responded and arranged a civil ceremony with the hospital chaplains.
The couple borrowed rings and finally tied the knot with an “army” of staff as bridesmaids. Modern Matron May Parsons and junior doctor Leigh Anne Brace acted as witnesses.
The Trust said: “It may not have been the wedding they imagined, but our amazing staff were able to add some much need sparkle to make their ceremony special by adding a few traditional touches, such as ‘new’ decorations, ‘borrowed’ rings, an army of ‘blue’ bridesmaids and, most importantly, an ‘old’, timeless love.
“This heart-warming reminder shows that it isn’t a choir and bouquets that make a wedding special; it’s commemorating the everlasting bond that two people share.
“From everyone at UHCW, we wish Phillip and Patricia a huge congratulations and all the happiness in the world. It’s an afternoon we won’t forget.”
The Coventry couple, who first met while working on a pantomime set, have been inundated with hundreds of messages of congratulations after the story and photographs were published on the trust’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
They include: “Congratulations to Patricia and Phillip. Wonderful story, wonderful staff. Very proud of our hospital with a heart.”
Another reads: “Aww how lovely. So glad it happened. Congratulations to the bride and groom and well done UHCW for making this happen.”
