Spring Creek
2226 State Highway 1
Picton
Wednesday 26 February 2025
49 High Street
Havelock 68 Main Road
Senior’s Expo 2025 Helping hands Page 4
Hi Ho Silver
Feature inside
Page 21
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A gem of a reunion PAULA HULBURT A couple marking a milestone wedding anniversary have celebrated with their bridesmaid after being reunited by chance. Jim and Shirley Mears from Blenheim marked their blue sapphire wedding anniversary on 20 February, celebrating 65 years. And long-lost friend Lorraine joined them for a special lunch after the trio, who had lost con-
tact 60 years ago, discovered they were neighbours. Shirley says her and Jim had moved into a retirement villa when they were welcomed by a neighbour a few doors down. “There was this lady in a wheelchair racing up from the gate, going flat out,” Shirley smiles. “She asked did I know her and as soon as she said her name, Lorraine, I knew immediately. ‘I was amazed. We often thought
of her over the years, but life just got in the way, and we lost touch.” “I had seen the updated phone list and saw their names,” Lorraine says. “I hoped it might be them, and it was. It was meant to be.” The room is filled with laughter and warm smiles as the friends remember the first time Jim and Shirley met. Shirley and Lorraine, originally from Christchurch, were on their
first holiday together in Nelson at 17 years old. After being turned away from one hotel because it was full, Jim, then 21-years-old, found himself staying at the same bed and breakfast. Smiling at her husband as she recollects their first meeting, Shirley says she was delighted when Jim asked her to the movies. “Lorraine and I had been the night before, so I chose the pic-
ture I hadn’t seen. Jim had already seen it and spent more time gazing at me,” she laughs. Jim, who was living in Blenheim at the time, says it was fate the hotel he had hoped to stay in was full. “Shirley had beautiful hair, and I thought ‘that’s a nice girl.’ I was a little bit nervous asking her out.”
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JUMPING FOR JOY: Nadia Zintl is overjoyed to clear the bar during Friday’s Marlborough Girls’ College Athletics Day at Athletic Park. More from the day on page 22. Photo: Peter Jones.
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