'I thought my late partner's love lock would remain'
Ryan found out he had terminal cancer in March 2024.After being told there was no further treatment he could receive, he chose not to know how long doctors believed he had left to live."He had an absolute belief in living for the day," Gail says.He died in September, aged 58, and Gail has visited their lock many times since then.But now the owner of the bridge, Severn Trent, wants to remove the lock and the hundreds of others alongside it.The water supplier says the locks are causing "some damage" to the Grade II listed structure, and they need to "protect its structural integrity both now and into the future".Work to the bridge is set to begin on 6 October, with people being asked to remove their locks before then if they wish to keep them.A spokesperson for the water firm said any remaining locks would be "well looked after", with plans to "create something special" to honour their meaning.
"It's really hard to think that it won't be here," Gail says."I thought this would be a constant for me over the next years and decades, and it's hard to think it might not be."It's a way of having those lovely memories and keeping that relationship alive."Gail kept the key to her lock, making it easier to retrieve.But people typically throw the keys into the river, as per the tradition.
'Stories tied up'
Dayon Kingsland, meanwhile, will have to find a way to cut off the lock he placed on the bridge with his late partner Kirk Godber three years ago. Kirk died suddenly, aged 64, following a cardiac arrest in October 2024. Since then, the padlock has served as a special reminder of "happy moments" for Dayon."Without going into too much detail, the circumstances around it all were quite traumatic," the 53-year-old says."So to actually remove something - you know, I know it's a padlock and it's not really a major thing, but for those people that have stories tied up in it, to them it is something major."
Dayon says he will do whatever he can to retrieve his lock before it is removed.However, he says the location of the locks is important for him and many others."I think it would be nice if [Severn Trent] did some sort of monument with them," he says."You know, the whole purpose of those locks was to be on the bridge."Severn Trent said it needed to make sure the "iconic local landmark" stayed safe and strong. A spokesperson said: "We understand the meaning these locks have and so we're giving people lots of notice to collect their lock in the next few weeks if they wish. "More will be revealed on how we'll honour people's lock stories in the next couple of weeks, and we'd like to thank everyone for their understanding."
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