We invited a man into our home at Christmas and he stayed with us for 45 years

Christmas is often thought of as a time for goodwill, but a young UK couple's act of kindness 50 years ago changed their lives forever. Rob Parsons and his partner Dianne were celebrating Christmas at their Cardiff home when they heard a knock at the door on December 23. On their doorstep, a man with a bin bag holding his possessions in his right hand and a frozen chicken in his left. Rob investigated the man's face and vaguely remembered him as Ronnie Lockwood, someone he would occasionally see at Sunday School as a child and who was told not to be concerned because he was a bit different.I said 'Ronnie, what's with the chicken? Somebody gave it to me for Christmas,' he said. And then I used two words that changed all of our lives. "I'm not sure why I said them. I said come in.

The couple, who was only 27 and 26 years old at the time, felt compelled to take Ronnie, who had autism, under their custody. His chicken was fried, he let him bathed, and decided not to let him stay for Christmas. What started as an act of compassion and friendship that lasted 45 years before Ronnie died.

When Rob and Dianne, now 77, were married for four years, they had only been married for a few years when they welcomed Ronnie into their household. Ronnie was then almost 30 and had been homeless from the age of 15, lived in and around Cardiff, and moved from job to job - Rob would often see him at a youth club he played. They asked his family to give him a gift for Christmas, anything from a pair of socks to some smellies to make him feel as welcome as possible.

I can remember him now. He was seated at the Christmas table with these gifts, and he cried because he'd never known that kind of feeling of love, you know,

Dianne said. "It was incredible, really, to watch.

The pair had intended to wait until Christmas, but when the day came, they couldn't bring Ronnie out and demanded police assistance. Ronnie needed an address to get a job, according to Rob, but they need a job to get an address.That's the Catch 22" that thousands of homeless people are in.

Ronnie vanished from Cardiff aged 11, aged 11, when he was put in a care home, but Rob said it was only when HE was investigating for his book, A Knock on the Door, that he found what happened to him. He had been sent 200 miles away to a school that was referred to in a survey as a school for subnormal boys and he lived there for five years.

He didn't have any friends there. He had no social worker who knew him. He had no teachers that knew him.

I did a bad thing,Ronnie said.They believe he picked up from his time at the academy,the school says.He was never afraid he had offended you or done something wrong. Ronnie was sent back to Cardiff to nothing when they were 15 years old, according to the couple.

Ronnie was a bit uncomfortable to start with because he would have trouble making any eye contact and talk was kept to a minimum, according to the couple.

But then we'll get to know him, and, in truth, we'd love him. Since finding out Ronnie wore the same clothes he was wearing as a child at the school, they helped him get a job as if a garbage collector and took him to buy new clothes.

We didn't have children of our own, so it was like dressing your children for school, and we were proud parents,Rob said.He's got a job as a dustman, we've dressed him up as if he's the front man of the Dorchester Hotel," Rob laughed as we stepped out of the store.

Rob, a lawyer, would get up an extra hour to drop Ronnie to work before going to work himself. When Ronnie does return home, Rob says he'll often be sitting there, smiling, and one night he asked, Ronnie, what's amusing you so much?Rob, when you take me to work in the mornings, the other guys say, 'who brings you to work? Ronnie said.Oh, that's my solicitor,says the narrator.We don't think he was proud of being taken to work by a lawyer, but we suspect he never had anyone take him on his first day of school,Rob said.And now he's almost 30. at last somebody is at the gate.

Ronnie had several rituals they became used to, including emptying the dishwasher each morning, to which Rob would be surprised to avoid Ronnie's dissatisfaction with Ronnie.

It's impossible to look surprised when you ask the same question on Tuesday that you had on Monday, but it was Ronnie. He chuckled,

We did that for 45 years. "He obviously struggled to read and write, but Dianne said he would buy the South Wales Echo every day. Every Christmas, Ronnie would buy them the same Marks and Spencer gift cards, but every year they shared the same excitement for their reaction.

Ronnie spent a lot of his spare time at their local church, collecting funds for the homeless, and arranging for services, meticulously lining out the chairs. Dianne recalled one day when she returned home with a different pair of shoes on, and she wondered, Ronnie, where are your shoes?He told her that a homeless man needed them. That's the type of person he was. He was amazing, they said. When Dianne was sick with ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, she recalled days when she couldn't get out of bed.

I had a little three-year-old daughter, Rob was away from work,

Dianne said. Ronnie was remarkable and came into his own, making milk bottles for their son Lloyd, helping out around the house, and playing with their daughter Katie.

Although they admitted that the dynamic had their challenges, including fighting Ronnie's gambling addiction for 20 years, they couldn't imagine their lives without him. It's not something I would recommend as a tactic, Rob said, but Ronnie has enhanced our lives in many ways.He had a great heart Ronnie. He was generous, but Dianne was apprehensive,Dianne said.I was his mother some days, but then I was his social worker and other times I was the carer.

Somebody said to them [their children] one day,' how did you cope with Ronnie when your friends came over to the house?

and they said, We don't worry about it really, it's just Ronnie.Our children would never have known life without Ronnie," Rob said. He was there before they arrived and was there when they were gone, with children of their own.

A few years after Ronnie was born, only then did the couple consider supporting him to live independently. As their two children were getting older and storage space in their one-bathroom home became limited, they approached Ronnie's room to request that he be moved across the street from them. But as they approached, he asked the simple question, Have I done a bad thing?I can't do it,

Rob said, as Dianne rushed him out of the room, burst into tears, and said,

I just can's not do We three are close friends, aren't we? Ronnie entered their room a few nights later and said, We are firm buddies, are we?I said, 'Yes Ronnie, we three are good friends,'Rob said.We'll be together forever, won't we? says the narrator. he asked.

And there was a moment's pause, but it was probably too long,

I said to Di and I said, 'Yes Ronnie, we will be together forever. "And we were. Ronnie died in 2020 at the age of 75 after suffering a stroke, and the couple remembrance him deeply.

Due to Covid, only 50 people were allowed to attend his funeral, but tickets were hotter than a Coldplay concert, Rob joked. At least 100 sympathy cards were sent, from

Oxford University professors to politicians, and the unemployed. After his death, a new £1. After Ronnie, the 6 million wellbeing center attached to Glenwood Church in Cardiff was named Lockwood House. However, the old building and the new one didn't quite match, and the renovations needed additional funds to complete the job.

But they needn't have worried,said Rob.It's close to the penny, it was the exact amount Ronnie had left in his will.