To motivate him to get back to full fitness, his granddaughter, Rachel Powell, 29, told him she wanted him to be her flower grandad - instead of a typical flower girl - at her upcoming nuptials.

Despite his prognosis, Bert made a full recovery and helped his granddaughter down the aisle in May 2023 when she wed her partner, Andy Powell, 29, who works in marketing.

Bert's role was to walk down the aisle before his granddaughter, scattering flower petals on the floor.

Rachel, who works in marketing, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, said: "I believed he would get better, and it was during that when I said I wanted to honour him and make him feel really special.

"I asked him to be my flower grandad - that was such a big part of his recovery.

"He was still unable to talk at that point, but he wrote a note that said: 'I will make it to your wedding'."

Just after Rachel got engaged in December 2021, her grandad had a fall which led him to develop vocal cord palsy - a voice disorder that occurs when the vocal folds don't open or close properly.

Doctors told Rachel and her family Bert might not make it and even if he did, he would not be able to walk or talk.

After having a tracheotomy fitted - a surgical airway management procedure - Bert was motivated to make it to Rachel's wedding.

Bert said: "Believe anything is possible. I can't believe I got to watch my granddaughter get married."

Rachel added: "He was so excited when we first asked him, he didn't understand what it was, but we explained it to him, and he was very much ready for the role.

"He makes everyone so happy - he is always the first on the dance floor.

"He loves to make people laugh and smile."

Amy Humphries 26, a content creator, captured the special moment on camera and said it was "spectacular".

Amy, from Dunstable, Bedfordshire, said: "It is definitely the first time I have seen it before.

"I remember when me and Rachel were talking through the plan of the day, I knew she would have a spectacular wedding.

"There were lots of special touches throughout the whole day."

As well as having a flower grandad, Rachel wrote poems for all of her guests and had a flash mob down the aisle.

Rachel said: "I was super excited to marry my husband, but also for me it is a day where you have everyone you love in one room.

"I was really keen to make it special for the people that were special to me."