Fate is something Brenda Morgan strongly believes in.

It started in 1956 when her friend persuaded her to go a juvenile dance, even though all she wanted to do back then was indulge her love of ice skating.

The friends agreed that if the opportunity arose, they would both need to leave with a boyfriend at the end of the night, or not at all.

But when Brenda arrived she realised her friend had stood her up. This is when fate first stepped in.

Because on that night an 18-year-old called Lewis came over to speak to her and the rest, as they say is history.

At the time Lewis, who was in the army, was staying in one of our aged miners homes in Bearpark where he was looking after his grandmother, Sarah, who was ill.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Brenda got used to visiting Sarah’s home, but even she couldn’t have imagined then the further twist of fate that awaited her.

Fast forward 55 years later and Lewis sadly passed away of cancer aged 70.

Having been married in 1960 the couple had gone on to live in a large family home close to the aged miners bungalow, where they raised their five children.

With the children all grown up and Lewis no longer in her life, Brenda realised she needed to move to a smaller home more suitable to her needs so she put her name on our waiting list, her one specification being she wanted to remain in Bearpark.

One of our homes became available and that home was, yes you guessed it, the one where Lewis’s grandparents used to live.

So, for the last six years Brenda has been living in a home which holds lots of happy memories.

She says: “I always believed it was fate that Lewis and I met that night in the dance hall and I think it’s also fate that led to me living in the house where his grandparents spent many happy years together.

“It’s obviously changed a lot since I first visited Lewis’s grandparents but it’s lovely to live here now and it’s just a little sad that Lewis wasn’t here to enjoy it with me because he would have loved it.”