His lovely wife

Bill Tomlinson has a broken-down van to thank for meeting his lovely wife Marlene.

Had the van failed to start the couple’s lives may have gone in an entirely different direction, and also left Bill out of pocket too!

He explains: “I went to a pub with some friends, and I noticed Marlene and said crikey, I am going to ask if I can take her home.

“My friend bet me five bob that she would say no as he had already been turned down, so I went over and asked and she said no because she already had a lift.

“Luckily for me the lad she was going to go with couldn’t get his van started and as it was pouring down she came to me and said I could take her home.

“And the rest is history!”

Bill and Marlene married and subsequently worked for over 50 years in the pub trade. When they started they were the youngest licenses in Nottinghamshire.

It was a job they loved, saying: “We didn’t just run a pub but became totally involved in every part of it.”

The couple, who have two children, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, decided to retire from the pub trade when Marlene got breast cancer, which she thankfully recovered from, but she was then also diagnosed with dementia.

They moved into their current one-bedroom bungalow ten years ago and everything was fine until quite recently when Marlene’s mobility deteriorated dramatically.

A subsequent scan revealed disease in Marlene’s brain which had completely cut off her mobility.

Caremark Mansfield & Ashfield began supporting Marlene, initially coming in two times a day.

This has now increased to four times a day. We come in the morning to help Marlene out of bed and to provide her with personal care, return late afternoon to help her into bed so she can rest for a few hours, then early evening we get her back up and provide more personal care, and there is a final short call late evening to get her back into bed for the night.

Bill says: “I was helping Marlene as much as I could, but it got too much for me, so I am absolutely delighted with Caremark.

“We haven’t been down this road before as we are proud people, but we knew we had to accept help and it’s been such a relief.”

Marlene adds: “Having spent so long working in pubs I have always loved the company of other people, so it’s nice to see the carers each day.”