Galashiels man, 95, shocked by worldwide birthday wishes

Dad-of-three Tommy Houston lost his wife Margaret in 2014 and faced spending his birthday alone on Saturday (November 21) because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But thanks to an act of generosity from a friend, Mr Houston ended up receiving cards from as far away as Japan and Jamaica – plus numerous gifts from strangers.

It all happened after 24-year-old Aoife Malone published an appeal on Instagram which touched the hearts of social media users.

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Aoife wrote: “He’s had an incredibly lonely year as you can imagine and has barely been able to see any family at all.

“On November 21 he’ll be turning the big 95 and I’d love it if he got a few more birthday cards than usual this year.

“He keeps all the cards me/my mum/friends send him and goes back and reads them again so I know he would be so buzzing if he got some kind words from people from all over the world.”

Tommy Houston with his friend Aoife Malone

Aoife met Mr Houston, a retired taxi driver, in 2015 when she was a student in Galashiels and working in a bookmakers.

Aoife noticed Mr Houston would come into the shop to place 2p bets and chat to people – and the pair became good friends, with Mr Houston teaching Aoife to drive and going on to attend her graduation.

Mr Houston also drove Aoife to Heriot-Watt University every day for her studies in Fashion Communication and cooked her dinner.

Aoife, originally from Belfast, now lives in New York where she works in marketing.

However, she knew how hard this year has been for Mr Houston – alone during the pandemic – and she wanted to help mark his birthday.

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Her social media appeal generated thousands of likes.

“I warmed to Tommy because I could tell he was lonely,” said Aoife.

“There was something in his eyes and I could tell that he wanted to chat.

“He’s so interesting and actually really progressive.

“He’s a massive feminist and has met people all over the world so I think that’s why we bonded.

“He really misses me.”

Aoife moved to New York in January, and she had an emotional farewell with Mr Houston before she left.

She said: “When I left we couldn’t stop crying. We sat in St Andrews Square in Edinburgh and listened to New York, New York by Frank Sinatra before I left.”

The pair still speak to each other every day.