Frank and Nina Jacques have a proud place in the history of St Ann’s Hospice as the first couple thought to have celebrated their wedding there.

It is almost 40 years since the hospice hosted their reception so that Frank’s mother Florence could attend.

She was a long-term patient at the Heald Green hospice and too unwell to travel to the city centre to see the couple tie the knot at Manchester Registry Office on March 23, 1976.

The formalities were then completed in front of Florence in the hospice chapel before she sadly died four years later aged 66, some 20 years after she was diagnosed with bone cancer.

There were a couple of mishaps on the wedding day which made the occasion even more memorable.

The seam split all the way up the back of Nina’s dress and a nurse had to spare her blushes on the men’s ward with the loan of her pinnie.

A pal of Frank’s who offered to take the wedding photographs forgot to put film in his camera so sadly there is no photographic record of their big day.

The couple generously donated the money for their honeymoon to St Ann’s which was then fundraising to build the hospice at Little Hulton which opened in 1979.

Frank, 67, from Wythenshawe, said: “We’ve got lovely memories of celebrating our marriage at St Ann’s Hospice even though my mum wasn’t well.

“I used to ride a Honda motorbike and in those days would spend all my time either working as a porter at the airport or visiting my mum at the hospice.”

Nina, 61, said: “It’s our ruby wedding in March and we’re glad we’re still here together and are very grateful for what we’ve got. St Ann’s Hospice will always have a special place in our hearts for what they did for us that day.”