Pat and Frank look back on 60 happy years together

Leyland couple Pat and Frank Shepherd have enjoyed a number of special celebrations at St Catherine’s Hospice this week.

Pat marked her 81^st birthday on Wednesday with a cake, balloons and Champagne with their family, before she and Frank reached a special milestone as a couple on Thursday.

Their 60^th wedding anniversary was made all the more poignant with a congratulatory card from HM The Queen, and Frank’s room at the inpatient unit in the Lostock Hall hospice has been decorated with banners and cards from family and friends.

The couple also shared some cake with the nurses as they looked back on 60 happy years together.

“We’ve had many highlights over the years,” Pat said. “We’ve done everything together – dancing, holidays, dining out. We really enjoy socialising and spending time with the family for all the different occasions like birthdays. We love celebrating with our son Philip and daughter Julie, and our three grandchildren.”

The couple, from Kings Court, met through mutual friends when they were 15, and married on September 8, 1956, at St Joseph’s Church in Preston.

After she left school, Pat worked for Marks & Spencer and Frank was a mechanic at Leyland Garage. He went on to become a test driver for Leyland Motors.

“Frank really enjoyed his job,” Pat said. “He would drive around the test track at Moss Side on uneven road surfaces, over hills and through water to test the vehicles.

“We have also enjoyed going away for weekends in our touring caravan around Britain – it was only after our silver wedding anniversary that we started going abroad.

“We’ve been to Spain, Cyprus and Malta, and we also went on a cruise and ended up at Lake Garda in Italy, which was beautiful.”

St Catherine’s chief executive, Stephen Greenhalgh, said: “Many congratulations to Pat and Frank – what a marvellous milestone and a happy occasion for the whole family!

“Here at St Catherine’s we feel privileged to help our patients and their loved ones create special memories – and I’m sure our nurses enjoyed indulging in a little bit of cake to help mark Pat’s birthday and the couple’s 60^th wedding anniversary too!”

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