Serenade by Tony and Diane

Diane Grant, née Cunningham, met Anthony Grant in Bootle's Orrell Park Ballroom 1967 when they were 16 years old. At the time Diane worked at the Hygena kitchen factory in Kirkby; Tony working as a waiter and in the mess halls of cruiseliners such as the QE2. Their courtship flourished and they eventually wed in 1971 at St Martin's Church, Kirkby. Together they produced four children and seven grandchildren.

After raising her kids at home, domestic roles were reversed when Diane decided to attend night school to take her GCSEs. This was followed by a BTEC at Kirkby Community College, a bachelor's degree, masters degree and finally a PhD at Liverpool John Moores University - where Diane secured employment as a lecturer in Applied Community Studies. The culmination of Diane's academic career was a readership and funded research into child poverty and gender discrimination in the workplace.

Diane's academic career afforded the couple a new family home near the beach in Hoylake, where they spent endless summers days with the kids when they were young - beautifying the loft space to what they called 'the sunset lounge' where they would watch the sun go down, drinking wine and serenading each other.

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In the early hours of Tuesday 27th August 2019, after a weekend spent with family over the bank holiday, Diane suffered a massive stroke while she slept. Because the stroke went undetected for most of the night, it caused severe brain damage, leaving Diane with acute aphasia and paralysis on one side of her body.

After a time at Arrowe Park's Acute Stroke Unit and months at Clatterbridge Rehabilitation Unit, Diane was finally allowed home in time for Christmas.

Despite not being able to communicate with speech, Diane can still sing, a mercy which has formed a crucial part of her home rehabilitation. The couple's longstanding tradition of recording snippets of duets for the family WhatsApp group thankfully continues to this day.

These recordings serve as a family archive for future generations, a testament to the healing power of music and a celebration of Diane and Tony's unending devotion to one another.

Please consider making a donation to the Stroke Fund at Wirral University Teaching Hospital. The money they raise goes towards funding new equipment to aid rehabilitation, and improving the environment for families of patients at the end of their life.

https://www.wuthcharity.org/stroke-fund

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