My Valentine

Jan 19 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ROMANTIC couple Janice Ratcliffe and John McLoughlin will tie the knot on Valentine’s Day – seven months after meeting on the bus!

Janice, 54, and John, 60, will marry at Huddersfield Register Office on February 14 before celebrating with a reception at The Aspley pub on Wakefield Road.

It was Janice who decided on the special date for the big day.

She said: “I thought it would be nice and romantic to get married then.”

John added: “It was Janice who chose Valentine’s Day and I went along with it!”

The pair met seven months ago while travelling on a bus into town.

Janice, from Longwood, was heading to work as a sales assistant at the Good Food Shop greengrocers on Macaulay Street while John was travelling into town from his Golcar home to go shopping.

Janice, who sings in Marsh Ladies’ Choir, said: “John was on the bus and I just got on one day and we started talking. He used to go into town on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but it was mainly Saturdays that we saw one another. We just got together.”

John said: “Janice is a giggler and we just hit it off.”

After their wedding they plan to spend a three-day honeymoon in John’s home city of Dublin.

He moved to Huddersfield 50 years ago with his sister, Anne, and late brother, John, and has never returned to Ireland.

He said: “I never thought I would go back. Janice has never been so we will be like a couple of strangers there.”

The couple will live at Rutland Road in Longwood.

The forthcoming wedding shows just how much John’s life has turned around since this time last year.

In January 2007, his wife Susan died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis.

John was her carer for seven years. After her death, he considered a career in care, but realised it was not for him. He is now considering other career options.

He said: “Last year was not so good, but this year I have a wedding to look forward to. It’s nice to have a bit of happiness.”

John has four children and seven grandchildren from his first marriage. Janice has three children and one grandchild.