HERALD NEWS

TREASURED:
Valentine’s Day
poems, left,
from Frank to
Beryl, who has
been collecting
them for six
decades.
Right, the
couple
yesterday.

Poet’s labour
for life’s love
By KATE TARALA ‘‘It seemed like half of New-

FRANK Rigby will give his

wife of 64 years a flower this
morning, but it won’t have
anything to do with Valentine’s
Day.
‘‘He gives me a flower every
morning,’’ says Beryl Edith
Rigby.
‘‘We could be in the middle of
the desert and he’ll find me a
flower.
‘‘It’s not always a rose but I
always get a flower – every
morning.’’
So is the romantic Mr Rigby
content with making every day
feel like Valentine’s Day? Not a
chance.
Today, as he has on Valentin-
e’s Day for six decades, the
former Newcastle councillor
has published a love poem to
his wife in the Newcastle Herald.
‘‘She thinks I’m crazy,’’ says
the lifelong Stockton resident.
‘‘And I think she’s right.’’
Mr Rigby met his wife, who
he affectionately calls ‘‘Beb’’, in
1944 and the pair married five
BLISS: Frank and Beryl Rigby on their wedding day 64 years ago. years later.
Blooms and
verses for
a lifetime
of romance
Mr Rigby said he started
writing poetry as a way to share
the wild tales he heard while
working on the waterfront.
‘‘You’d hear some funny stor-
ies down there but you couldn’t
tell them anywhere else,’’ he
said.
‘‘I just tried to turn them
around so you could tell them
in mixed company and I’d put
them to rhyme.’’
Eventually, he started pen-
ning poems for his wife and
submitted one to the Herald for
the first time in the early 1960s.
As the tradition continued,
he soon found his audience
growing to beyond his beloved.
castle was reading my poems –
the paper should’ve been pay-
ing me to write them,’’ he said.
Mr Rigby said his wife cuts
out the poems each year and
adds them to her jewellery box.
And she is looking forward to
many more poems and years
together.
He chalks up the success of
their relationship to their spe-
cial bond.
The couple founded the John
Hunter Children’s Hospital
charity, The Kids Club, which
has since raised more than
$3 million.
‘‘We have done everything
together – everything I did with
the council and John Hunter
Hospital foundation wasn’t just
me, it was the two of us,’’ Mr
Rigby said.
Though Mrs Rigby knows
what to expect today, she says
she always looks forward to his
latest work.
But she can’t nominate a
favourite poem.
‘‘They’re all beautiful,’’ she
said.

Love and money go round on Valentine’s Day

By KATE TARALA
and TIM CONNELL
REMEMBERING their
wedding anniversary should be
a breeze for Warners Bay
couple Shantel Walters and
Brad Neville who are set to tie
the knot at Merewether
Surfhouse today.
‘‘Valentine’s Day will always
be two in one for us,’’ Ms Walters,
24, told the Newcastle Herald on
the eve of her wedding to her
29-year-old beau.
Ms Walters explained her
fiance proposed in his typical
‘‘jokester’’ style.
‘‘I was working and he had all
these flowers delivered but
from another guy’s name . . . I
thought I had a stalker and was
laughing with all the girls at
work about it,’’ Ms Walters said.
‘‘I had six dozen roses
delivered and then at the end
of the day Brad came in with
the last dozen and proposed.’’
The couple celebrated with
dinner at Sydney’s Tower and a
trip to the Blue Mountains.
Three couples are also
expected to be married at
Newcastle’s Registry Office
today, one of 40 such
ceremonies across the state on
Valentine’s Day.
The offices have even
extended opening hours for the
day to cope with demand.
You can do your bit for
charity at the Kissing Booth at
Newcastle Museum from 11am
to 2pm and 5pm to 8pm today.
Each photo at the flower-
decked Kissing Booth will cost
$5 and raise money for the John
Hunter Children’s Hospital.
Neil Slater, owner of
Scratchleys restaurant in
Newcastle, said the Valentine’s
rush is rivalled only by
Mothers’ Day and the last
Friday of the working year.
‘‘It’s about three times busier
than a normal night.’’
Linda Pinkerton, florist at
Apple Blossom in Wallsend,
said she’d hardly slept in days.
‘‘It’s full-on,’’ Ms Pinkerton
said. ‘‘At this time of year we all
get one and a half to two hours’
sleep a night.’’ Single stem GSOH: Shantel Walters and Brad Neville get
roses are still the best sellers. married today. Picture: Simone De Peak

Bridal shoe shop first for the Hunter

By PENELOPE GREEN
Business Reporter FOR THE LOVE
OF SHOES:
IN her former career as a Nicole
police officer, Nicole Withers Withers at
trained her colleagues to be

Ascot Electric
her new
crack shots. bridal shoe
Tonight the 31-year-old store Harvey
mother of two will reach a Patrick.

personal target of her own by
officially launching Harvey
Patrick, a dedicated bridal
shoe store she says is the first
of its kind in the Hunter and
one of only a handful on the
east coast.
‘‘I’ve copped a bit of flak
for launching it on Valen-
tine’s Day because my target
market might be otherwise
engaged, but it wasn’t inten-
tional,’’ Ms Withers said yes-
terday with a laugh, as she
oversaw last-minute details
at The Junction store.
With a background in mar-
keting and human resources
and a decade in the police
force, Ms Withers said her
interest in the bridal
industry began five years ago
when she briefly worked as a
marriage celebrant.
‘‘I’m a hopeless romantic
Lift Chairs
Picture:
Marina Neil
and a fashion victim and like Special $999 save $340
any girl I love shoes,’’ she
said. While stocks last in fabric only. At special price
She said most bridal
boutiques sold only a small
range of shoes that were
VARIOUS MODELS ON DISPLAY IN LEATHER
often poor quality, but she
would stock at least 100 styles
OR FABRIC FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY.
that would suit all budgets
but still be premium quality. HORTONS LAZBOY GALLERY KOTARA & THORNTON

G5501033AA-120213
KOTARA 4957 0937 THORNTON 4966 1089
Thursday, February 14, 2013 NEWCASTLE HERALD 7