A man who shared a birthday with his first wife and daughter found love again on a coach holiday to Norwich.
Jenny Maher said her dad George first met her mum Dorothy in Sefton Park when they both lived in south Liverpool. Jenny, 55, told the ECHO her mum originally gave the fake name 'Pam' and joked it was to avoid a second date with her dad.
But the pair quickly found they shared the same birthday - January 6 - and eloped together and moved into a house just off Penny Lane. Jenny, who now lives in Bootle, said when she was born she arrived on her parents' joint birthday.
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Jenny said she was supposed to be born on Christmas Day - but arrived days later on January 6. She added she only just made the cut off to be born on the same day after her mum gave birth at 11.52pm. Jenny told the ECHO she "stole the limelight" for years when the three family members shared their birthday.
Jenny said: "My parents' tradition was to always take down the Christmas decorations on January 5 so we could swap quickly over to our birthdays. We used to have a wall each in our house where we displayed all our birthday cards.
"My mum used to always joke about the time it was her 40th birthday and I was trying to hog the limelight telling everyone I was five. We used to get a proper mix of people at birthday parties with my friends and my parents' friends together. Nobody ever used to believe me when I said I had the same birthday as my mum and dad. Even my grandchildren were confused when I told them."
The nan of three told the ECHO her mum died five years ago, just two days before their birthdays, leaving her dad George devastated. Jenny said George, 89, had cared for her mum through a lot of her life so had few friends. She encouraged her dad to go away on a coach trip to help him meet people.
Jenny said: "I told him to go because he could get chatting to people on the coach. While on the coach he met a woman called Lorraine. He's a bit deaf so he proceeded to call her Elaine for the rest of the week.
"While in Norwich they went on a canal boat and spent a lot of time together. When they came back on the coach my dad got mixed up with his bags which had my camera in that I'd lent him. He was more bothered because the camera had the first picture of him and 'Elaine' on.
"I suppose the rest is history now. They're living in Bolton together and will be married two years in November. I credit Lorraine for getting my dad through covid. He had someone with him to isolate with throughout the pandemic."
Jenny said her dad will celebrate his 90th birthday at the Packet Steamer pub, Bootle at the start of January. She added: "It's amazing how he's found Lorraine - it shows there's love out there."
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