MY mum Elsie Mullee celebrated her 89th birthday recently.

Mum suffers from dementia but is still quite agile. She was born in Inverurie Aberdeenshire her father was RSM of the Gordon Highlanders during the Second World War.

He won the Kings Cup as the finest shot in the British Army so quite a family history in the north east of Scotland. During the war mum served in the Land Army working on farms all over Aberdeenshire. It was during this time my father Terence Mullee, serving in the Royal Navy, while on shore leave in Aberdeen, met my mother. After the war they married and setteled in Inverurie where I was born and lived for a few years until my father moved us to Warrington.

The reason for this letter is that mum asked me if she could return to Inverurie for a final look at her home town. So I booked the flights with Fly Be from Manchester and spoke to one of their reps explaining the reason for our journey and how we would be very grateful for any assistance they could provide. This turned out to be first class – mum was met at the airport with a wheelchair and escorted right through to the aircraft. She was given priority all the way and on arrival at Aberdeen we received the same quality of service also on our return. All the time my mother was adressed as Elsie and said she thought she was the Queen, A very big thank you to all the staff of Fly Be.

Before we left I rang social services in Aberdeen to hire a wheelchair for mum. I explained the background of our trip and said I needed a wheelchair so I could take mum around Inverurie. My request was denied. I remembered the last time we were home Morrisons had opened a new store so after locating the contact details I called the store and spoke to a lovely lady. They loaned us a wheelchair for two days free of charge.

There are nice people out there and I cannot thank them enough. also thanks to the staff in the Kintore Arms hotel for making mum’s stay a very happy one.

Patrick Mullee Stockton Heath