A CARE home resident has received a touching gift from staff to help her keep a picture by her side all night.

Sheila O’Connor would go to sleep every night with a picture of her husband Anthony O'Connor underneath her pillow at House Hope care home in Accrington.

But, every morning when she woke up, she found that his picture had fallen off the bed, so a carer at the home on Rishton Road bought her a pillow with the same picture on it.

Night carer at Hope House, Charmaine Douglas, noticed that the picture of Anthony would often end up on the floor, so she decided to buy Mrs O’Connor the pillow so that she could cuddle up to her husband’s picture whenever she wanted to.

One of Mrs O’Connor’s former jobs was working at the Burco factory where they made pans and that is where the two met.

She said: “I tried my best to avoid him at work and when we finally spoke to each other, we got on really well then went on to get married, and have been married for 48 years. “

He drives by her window every day, to beep and wave at her and always delivers gifts for her and writes a note with a secret admirer tag.

Mrs O’Connor has two children from a previous marriage which Anthony has brought up as his own and they have two grandchildren.

She said: “I was a little bit shocked when Charmaine gave me the pillow with the picture of my Tony on it, it was very thoughtful and I absolutely love it.

“The pillow brings back many happy memories that I shared with Tony, and it does pull on the heartstrings sometimes.”

Ms Douglas said: “I have a really close relationship with Sheila and spent many a night shift chatting with her about her husband, and I know how much he means to her, ‘my tony’ as Sheila says.

“That gave me the idea for the cushion, so she could give him a cuddle every day, which she has throughout since the pandemic.”

The couple are currently separated during the lockdown as Mrs O’Connor resides at the care home with health conditions.

Hope House forms part of Larchwood Care and is currently managed by Healthcare Management Solutions.