THIS week was a strange and a surreal one – Greg was asked to turn on the Southampton Christmas lights as a ‘local hero’. I received a phone call to say he had received over half of the nominations. This was so exciting as we are both enormous fans of Christmas, so much so that Bay’s middle name is Noelle.

Anyone who has ever seen Greg perform on stage would be shocked to know that he is not very comfortable being in the limelight. He has always found the lead up to gigs and public appearances difficult and will take himself away from everyone to focus. When Delays played on Top of the Pops, Greg sat backstage with a pair of industrial earphones on reading a book in a corner instead of hobnobbing with the other bands.

On Saturday, the afternoon was just like a gig day. I was giddy and getting nervously excited while Greg sat on his own upstairs. “Don’t worry,” I tried to appease him, “there will only be a hundred people tops”.

When we arrived in town with Dali and Bay in full Christmas costumes (of course), we were both shocked at how enormous the crowd was. As we weaved through the people to the front, I was reminded of all the gigs Delays have played and how we would wander through the crowds at festivals with people coming up to say hello. We saw so many people we knew and our families had set up camp at the front of the stage bringing boxes of mince pies and flasks of hot mulled wine.

We were taken backstage to meet the mayor and his wife and then it was time for the girls and I to watch from the audience. It was a very surreal moment; I was holding Bay, listening to everyone cheering, looking at the twinkling lights, hearing Greg talk on the microphone and I thought to myself ‘is this really happening? Is this actually our life’. Sometimes I wonder if I will wake up and this will all be an elaborate dream.

Anyone who was watching would have seen me with tears running down my face, looking up at the Santa flying overhead and hugging an elf who was shouting ‘MAN! SKY! CHRISTMAS!’. Bay, I hope you grow up to love Christmas as much as we do.

Stacey Heale has put her career as a fashion lecturer on hold to focus on her two lively little girls and fiancé, Delays frontman Greg Gilbert, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2016. She launched the viral campaign Give4Greg to raise funds for lifesaving treatment: gofundme.com/give4greg

You can read more at her blog beneaththeweather.com