We invite one man enter our house for Christmas and e stay wit us for 45 years

Pipo often dey see Christmas as a time for goodwill, but one young UK couple act of kindness 50 years ago change dia lives forever.

On 23 December 1975, Rob Parsons and im wife Dianne bin dey prepare for Christmas for dia Cardiff home wen dem hear knock for dia door.

One man stand for dia doorstep wit one trash bag wey carry all im possession. E put di bag for im right hand and one frozen chicken for im left hand.

Rob study di man face and remember am as Ronnie Lockwood, pesin wey e dey see occasionally for Sunday School. E be one boy wey pipo don tell am say make e dey kind to as e dey a "bit different".

"I say 'Ronnie, wetin dey sup wit di chicken?' E say pesin give me for Christmas'. And then I tok two words wey change all of our lives.

"And I no dey exactly sure why I say wetin I tok. I say come in."

Aged just 27 and 26 years old at di time, di couple bin feel moved to take Ronnie, wey dey autistic, under dia wing.

Dem cook im chicken, allow am to baff and agree to let am stay for Christmas.

Wetin start as act of compassion bin turn into a unique companionship of love and compromise wey last for 45 years, until di day Ronnie die.

Rob, now 77, and Dianne, now 76, be four years for dia marriage wen dem welcome Ronnie into dia home.

Ronnie then bin dey almost 30, and without a home from di age of 15. E bin dey live in and around Cardiff and dey move from one place to anoda. Rob, sometimes dey see am for di youth club wey e dey run.

To make am feel as welcome as possible, dem ask dia family to bring am gift for Christmas, anything from one pair of socks to some "smellies".

"I remember am now. E siddon for di Christmas table and e get dis presents and e cry becos e neva see dat kain love bifor, you know," Dianne tok.

Di couple bin plan to allow am stay until di day afta Christmas, but wen di day come for am to leave, dem no fit bring themselves to cast Ronnie out and dem seek advice from di authorities.

Di homeless centre tell dem say Ronnie need address to get a job, Rob say, but "to get address, you go need job".

"Dat na di Catch 22 wey lot of homeless pipo dey for inside."

About Ronnie

Dem put am for care home wen e be just eight years old. Ronnie disappear from Cardiff wen e be 11, Rob tok, and na wen e dey do research on im book, A Knock on di Door, e discover wetin happun to am.

Dem bin send am 200 miles away to one school wey dem refer to in a report as a "school for subnormal boys" and e live dia for five years.

"E no get any friends dia. No social worker know am. No teachers dey dia wey know am."

Rob say Ronnie go often ask "I do bad tin?" sometin wey dem believe e pick up wen e dey di school.

"E always dey worry to know if e don offend you or if e do sometin wrong."

At di age of 15, dem send Ronnie back to Cardiff "to nothing" dem tok.

Di couple say Ronnie bin dey a bit awkward to begin wit as e go struggle to make any eye contact and im no too dey tok.

"But den we get to know am and, in truth, we get to love am," dem tok.

Dem help Ronnie get job as a waste collector, dem buy new clothes for am afta dem see say na di same clothes wey dem give am as teenager for di school, e still dey wear.

"We no get kids of our own, e be like dressing your kids for school, we be proud parents," Rob tok.

"As we come out of di shop, she [Dianne] tell me say: E don see job as a dustman, we dress am up as though e be di front man of di Dorchester Hotel'," Rob laugh.

Rob, wey be lawyer, go wake up early to drop Ronnie for work bifor e leave for work.

Wen e reach house, Rob say Ronnie go sit down dia, just dey smile, and one night e ask: "Ronnie, wetin dey make you laugh?"

Ronnie reply: "Rob, wen you take me to work in di mornings, di oda men go say 'who dey always carry you come work inside car?' And I say 'oh dat na my solicitor'.

"We no tink say e dey proud say lawyer dey carry am go work, but we tink maybe nobody ever take am go school on im first day of school," Rob tok.

"And now e be almost 30... at last somebody dey at di gate."

Ronnie get many rituals wey dem bicom used to, wey include emptying di dishwasher each morning, to which Rob go act surprised to avoid Ronnie disappointment.

"E dey hard to look surprised wen you get di same question on Tuesday wey you get on Monday, but dat na Ronnie.

"We do am for 45 years," e laugh.

"E struggle to read and write, but e go buy di South Wales Echo every day," Dianne add.

Ronnie go buy di same Marks and Spencer gift cards every Christmas but each year e hold di same excitement for dia reaction.

Ronnie spend most of im spare time for dia local church, dey gada donations for di homeless and setting up for services, "meticulously" lining out di chairs.

One of dia lowest times na wen Dianne fall sick wit ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, she remember say days dey wen she no fit comot from bed.

"I get one little three-year-old daughter, Rob dey away working," Dianne work.

But she say Ronnie dey "remarkable" and helpful. E go prepare milk for inside bottles for dia son Lloyd, e help out around house and e go play wit dia daughter Katie.

While dem admit say evritin no dey rosy, wey include battling Ronnie gambling addiction for 20 years, dem no fit imagine dia lives without am.

"E get good heart Ronnie. E dey kind, e dey frustrate," Dianne tok.

"Sometimes I be im mama, sometimes I be im social worker and sometimes I be im carer.

"Somebody bin ask dia children one day, 'how una dey cope wit Ronnie wen una friends come una house' and dem say 'well, we no dey tink about am really, na just Ronnie'."

Rob add: "Our kids no ever know life without Ronnie. E dey dia bifor dem come and e dey dia wen all of dem grow and leave to start dia own family."

Na only once di couple consider supporting Ronnie to live independently, few years afta e move in.

As dia two children dey grow older and space no too dey for dia one-bathroom home, dem bin approach Ronnie room to suggest say make e get one flat down di road from dem.

But as dem enta, e repeat dat familiar question: "I don do bad tin?"

Rob say Dianne comot di room, burst into tears and say "I no fit do am."

Few nights later, Ronnie enta dia room and ask: "Three of us be solid friends, aren't we?"

"I say 'yes Ronnie, three of us be solid friends'," Rob tok.

"And we go dey togeda forever won't we?" e ask.

"And we pause for a moment, probably too long, I look across to Di and I say 'yes Ronnie, we go dey togeda forever'.

"And we dey."

Ronnie die for 2020 at di age of 75 afta e suffer a stroke and di couple say dem miss am terribly.

Only 50 pipo bin dey allowed to go for im funeral sake of Covid but di "tickets bin hot pass Coldplay concert" Rob joke.

Dem receive at least 100 sympathy cards, from "Oxford University professors, to politicians and di unemployed".

Afta im death, dem name one new £1.6m wellbeing centre wey dey attached to Glenwood Church for Cardiff Lockwood House, afta Ronnie.

But di old building and di new building no quite match, and dem need extra funding to finish di renovation.

"But dem no need worry," Rob tok.

"Na di exact amount Ronnie leave for im will.

"In di end, na di homeless man put roof ova our heads."

"Pipo dey ask us, how e take happun - 45 years - but di honest truth na say in some ways, e happun a day at a time.

"Ronnie bring a richness into our lives."

Additional reporting by Greg Davies