How I met my partner: From half-cooked chips to a lifetime of love for Lucy & Alan

CORK woman Lucy Wolfe has many strings to her bow, having found success as everything from a renowned sleep consultant to a respected author.

Nonetheless, to her husband Alan Burke, she will always be that teenage girl who served him half-cooked chips years ago in Bill and Bob’s chipper.

Lucy had worked there in a former life years before making a name for herself as one of the country’s best-known sleep consultants.

The former auctioneer was just 17 on the night she spotted a familiar face at her place of work. Realising that the pair had shared a passionate kiss the night before, she served him half-cooked chips in the hope he might leave.

It did little to deter enthusiastic young Alan who had been enchanted by the teenager when they met through friends at An Bróg pub.

It was outside St Peter and Paul’s church on Paul St that the couple kissed for the first time.

Alan knew immediately that they were meant to be together.

Lucy, on the other hand, wasn’t convinced, having just come out of another relationship.

“I was still heartbroken, to be honest,” Lucy admits. “I thought Alan might go away if I gave him cold chips but he hung around till I was finished and we arranged a date.”

Their deep connection was obvious after only a few drinks together.

“He was very handsome and very funny. However, what I noticed first and foremost was that he carried a handkerchief. It was always ironed. I also liked that he carried a wallet. It was a bonus that the wallet had money in it. He was a lot more mature than all the other guys my age I knew at the time.”

She recounted Cork’s city’s electric atmosphere during the early days of their relationship.

“I had done a paper round before getting a job in the chipper and worked there until I was 20 years old. I was able to get free food all the time. That was back in the days of lots of curry and cheese chips. Cork was always buzzing.”

The couple enjoyed a very simple wedding day.

“I was young when we got married. Back then there wasn’t all the drama and the party tricks you see at weddings today. It was just a normal day. My brother is an opera singer and he performed at the wedding. It was a beautiful day.”

Alan and Lucy share four children — Jesse, 21; Ellen, 19; Eden, 16; and Harry,13 —who were able to join them in renewing their vows in recent years.

She cast her mind back to that memorable day.

“We went to Las Vegas to renew our vows. We were married by Elvis, so it was a lot of fun. I’ll never forget one of the children spotting another guy around the corner impersonating Elvis and saying: ‘That’s the man who married you.’ It was difficult for the kids to fathom how there could be more than one.”

She shared her secrets to a happy relationship.

“Alan is a really good husband and dad. Open communication makes a huge difference in a relationship. We don’t have defined roles. Whichever one of us gets home first makes the dinner. If one of us sees that washing needs to be done then we won’t hesitate in being the first to take care of it.”

Alan previously spoke to The Echo in 2019 for a Valentine’s Day piece centred around their relationship. He also talked about what makes the relationship work.

“The best thing about the two of us is that we are best friends,” he said. “We get along together and like the same things. We have even mastered working together, from different rooms.”