A RETIRED Weaverham couple have had their spirits lifted during the pandemic by an ever-growing number of greetings cards from their daughter in Germany,

Alan Milligan, 78, and his 74-year-old wife Jess, received the first of the cards back in April and the small but thoughtful gesture has been repeated 101 times. Alan, a retired business manager, said other than when daughter Wendy came over to visit them when restrictions were recently lifted, the cards have been sent on an almost daily basis.

He said: "She tries to send them out daily. It's fantastic.

"She always writes thoughtful words in each card, she's been our lifeline. I've been amazed she's been able to find so many different cards."

The couple, both avid walkers, have been married for 53 years, are originally from Strathaven in Scotland, but moved south due to Alan's work commitments several decades ago.

Mr Milligan added: "Jess had pinned them all up above the fireplace and to date they number 101 and still counting, with every one of them being different."

Wendy, who is married with two university attending children, lives near the Bavarian town of Coburg and has been living in Germany having left the UK after meeting her husband at work.

"She speaks more German than English now", Mr Milligan said of his daughter, who has sent a card every day except for a one week period when she visited them following the lifting of travel restrictions. During lockdown, the welcome sight of the post man acted as a real pick-me-up.

Alan, a former Chairman of the Royal and Knutsford Ramblers, went on to say: "We normally go over there a couple of times a year and she will be do the same, so the restrictions put in place really made life difficult for us.

"It's so nice that we've got a daughter who's gone to the lengths she has to do this.

"It means so much to my wife, who was finding life difficult during those first couple of months."