Jim Wells becomes nursing home Romeo as he visits wife Grace every day

Veteran DUP man Jim Wells has taken to visiting his wife, Grace, at the Bannview House nursing home in Banbridge, where the loving couple speak each day through a downstairs window.

While not quite Juliet’s balcony in Verona, the South Down MLA told the News Letter that sharing “sweet nothings” through a double-glazed window is helping his wife keep up to date with news about her children and grandchildren.

“I have to call the staff in advance to let them know I’m coming and they open the window just enough for us to be able to speak,” he explained. “And we have quite a good chat. I bring her up to date with what is happening with the children and the grandchildren, and what is happening in the world. There’s double-glazing between us so nothing can come into the home.”

He admits to finding the isolation difficult since the lockdown began last month but he is full of praise for the staff at the home.

“I’ll be honest with you, it’s very, very frustrating,” he said. “I do find it difficult. I have moved beside the nursing home. I bought a house which is, literally, around two minutes walk away so I would have been in the home all the time — before work, after work, in the evening.

“It is quite difficult to be excluded for such a long time but I do understand entirely why this has to be done. It’s not a question of anyone feeling remotely resentful towards the staff.”

He continued: “You worry intensely about the coronavirus getting into the home. That is by the far the biggest worry that we have as a family because all the evidence from elsewhere has shown that when that happens the consequences are dreadful.”

Mr Wells added: “The staff have my total support.”