A CANCER research charity will receive a financial boost as a result of the generous donations from friends, parents, children and the family of ‘school wedding of the year’ sweethearts Ed and Wendy Goodwin.

The principal of St Christopher’s School and the head of the junior school requested donations to a good cause instead of wedding gifts when they tied the knot in the UK during the summer holidays.

Ed said: “We would like to say thank you to those who kindly donated to the ‘Give in Celebration’ website. The total now stands at £6,500 (BD3,900). Such a great amount was only possible because of your generosity.”

As reported earlier in GulfWeekly, Wendy had battled breast cancer two years ago with the support of family, friends and Ed. The couple says their feelings for each other grew from a close friendship into love during that time.

Wendy and Ed were married on July 20 in a civil ceremony in Bamburgh Castle in the northeast of England … and one of their special guests almost didn’t make it!

The couple flew over Ebrahim Al Gallaf who has worked at St Christopher’s School for 15 years as a security guard and government formalities liaison assistant. Over the years he has become a close friend as well as a work colleague.

The white-bearded Bahraini, known as Big Ebrahim by members of staff and pupils, had never flown to Europe before and nearly came unstuck when he landed at Newcastle Airport.

He was stopped by immigration and security officials and asked to give them the address of where he was staying. “I didn’t have it on me,” explained Ebrahim, a father-of-two from Busaiteen, “because I was being picked up at the airport. I was worried I might have to fly back home and miss the wedding.”

Ebrahim, however, did have the telephone number of his colleague who was anxiously waiting at arrivals for him, Jo Atkinson, who is in charge of the school’s admissions department, but she had swapped her work mobile for a British one.

“They kept ringing and ringing the Bahraini number and getting no answer. Fortunately a lady in the immigration kindly came over, asked what the problem was, and after hearing my story told me not to worry and that she would sort matters out. I cannot thank her enough,” said Ebrahim.

After a couple of hours, passport photocopied and finger prints taken, Ebrahim made it out of the airport and to the ceremony on time.

Ed explained: “Ebrahim is an ex-policeman who has been with us for years. He deals with all government formalities and knows everyone in the ministries and is highly-respected by them and us. 

“He is a real character – in nature and appearance – and has never been to Europe. We flew him to our wedding and he had a fantastic time, making friends with villagers in a little seaside village in Northumberland and viewing two English castles at the wedding.”

Ebrahim says his eight days in the UK were some of the most memorable of his life and he will always remember the friendly folk he met, the weather ‘two days sunny, six days cold’ and by the end of his stay he was very fond of fish ‘n’ chips.

But his fondest memory was seeing Ed and Wendy tie the knot. He said: “Before I had two places in my heart for them, now I have one big one.”