Hairy Biker widow says second Christmas is harder

Lili Myers, the widow of Hairy Biker Dave, says her second Christmas without her husband "hits harder".

Myers, 66, was one half of the TV duo along with Si King and died in February 2024 from cancer, shortly after the airing of their final series.

Mrs Myers said lots of friends and family visited her over the festive period last year but a year on, finding a way to get through the season had been left to her.

"My advice to whoever goes through a similar situation [is] don't be afraid to create your own traditions if the ones that were in Christmasses past bring bad memories," she said.

She said last year was difficult as the "first Christmas without Dave", but this year had hit her more.

The pair had been together for nearly 20 years after meeting in Romania when Myers and King were filming part of their first series, The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook.

Mrs Myers said Christmas was "probably one of the hardest times of the year" for people who were grieving.

She said she would spend Christmas "the same way that we did when Dave was here", while creating new traditions.

She said she would be celebrating Christmas Eve with traditional Romanian food and on Christmas Day she would cook turkey "in Dave's style, the kids wanted that specifically".

"The kids are coming, we're decorating the house, having Christmas presents under the Christmas tree," she said.

There would be a gift for her husband, she said, and he was "going to have his place at the table".

Mrs Myers said her advice to anyone going through a similar situation was not to "be scared to change things, do things your own way, the way that it's relevant to you in this present moment".

She said while the pain of losing Myers was "exactly the same" two years on, she had found ways to cope by focusing her attention on "happy memories".

"The empty space at the table, we're having some some friends joining us and I created a bauble with Dave's name on it.

"That's going to go up on the Christmas tree."

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