Just months after he was awarded an MBE, Woodhouse Moor’s gardener, John Egan has had further cause to celebrate. Forty years ago last week, on the 24th May 1969, he and his wife Susan were married. Earlier this evening, I was talking to John. He told me how he came to Leeds in 1961 from Castlerea in County Rosscommon. When he first arrived here, he lived in the gatehouse of the Faversham Hotel on Mount Preston. In early 1963, he moved from there to Roundhay. Then he spent some time in Harehills before moving on to Meanwood, which is where he was living when he met Susan. They moved to their present home, the gardener’s lodge, in 1974. John and Susan have two daughters and four grandchildren.