A POIGNANT rose memorial has been placed in a Coalville nightclub, to mark the place where an 80-year-old man first laid eyes on his late wife 60 years ago.
The rose plaque has been placed above a set of stairs at the back of the town’s Emporium nightclub to mark the place where Brian Kendrick first saw his wife Barbara as a teenager back in 1961.
Earlier this month, the sentimental pensioner went back to the night club, in Belvoir Road, Coalville, and told the story of how he first saw his wife standing there, in a long white dress, with a red rose pinned to the front.
“She was standing on her own and she stood out a mile,” he told the Leicester Times.
“She was gorgeous, so angelic. It was like a miracle really, and I said to my friends, I have to go and ask her out, otherwise I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. So that’s what I did.”
When Brian went back to the nightclub earlier this month, he stood on the stairs where he first saw his wife, and when he closed his eyes he was able to see her, he said.
After a member of Emporium staff posted the story online, it touched the hearts of thousands, so much so that Marcus Holland, the club’s owner, arranged for a permanent tribute to be installed at the venue to immortalise the couple’s “wonderful” love story.
“It was a story which really pulled on the heart strings and one which so many people responded to,” he said.
“Brian is a proper nice respectable gentleman, and it genuinely made his day.
“I’m so glad I’ve been able to help him with this lovely tribute to his wife,” he added. “It really is such a wonderful story.”
Barbara passed away last year leaving Brian devastated.
However, the rose tribute is a romantic gesture which he wanted to give to the ‘love of his life’, as a lasting testament to their relationship.
“She’d have love it,” he said. “She enjoyed the simple things in life and the happiness that it bought her.
“Whenever I see a red rose I think of her, and this is just wonderful,” he added.
“I’m so proud that she was my wife and so happy that I’ve been able to do this for her.”
