Widower invited to eat lunch with students following wife's death

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A widower who lost his wife six years ago has been invited to enjoy lunch with students at a nearby school so that he doesn’t have to eat all of his meals alone. Cyril Aggett, 86, said he’d “be lost” without the standing invitation, SWNS reported.

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The idea first came about after students at Coome Dean Secondary School, in Devon, England, realized they hadn’t seen Aggett outside of his home following the death of his wife, Shirley. About a month after her funeral, staff called to invite him in for lunch.

​​​Cyril Aggett, pictured with students Harry Aldridge and Olivia Parsons, enjoys weekly lunches with students and staff at the school near his home.  (SWNS)

Four days a week Aggett joins the chaos of a school lunchroom to chat with students and staff.

“When I first came here I was down in the dumps,” he told SWNS. “I get a cup of tea, my lunch and good service. Everybody talks to me, the office staff is brilliant.”

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In recent months, Aggett said the loneliness set in again but the lunches helped him find a reason to smile again.

The invitation came after Aggett lost his wife, Shirley, six years ago.  (SWNS)

“A couple of months ago, I wasn’t really getting up until about 2 p.m. in the afternoon, it was lovely weather and I couldn’t be bothered,” the grandfather told SWNS. “I think Shirley must have said, ‘Pull your socks up, you know.’ Coming down here has brought me out of my shell again.”

Aggett said that he loves the “company and the noise.” When the school goes on break for holidays, they send him home with sausages and pies to stock his freezer.

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“I’d be lost if I didn’t come down here,” he told SWNS.