Bolton: Tributes paid to former landlady of Jolly Carter pub

Rees Gibbon, who represented Little Lever and Darcy Lever from 2016 to 2021, met his wife Vivien in the Jolly Carter pub in the early 70s when she was behind the bar and he was a customer.

The couple went on to be married for 47 years and ran the pub, situated on Church Street in Little Lever for 33 years from 1980 to 2013.

Rees says that he thinks his stepson Neil helped get the pair together, with Vivien asking Rees if he could take Neil to the local scout hut when they first met.

Vivien has been described as a “very caring person, who thought of everybody”, and who was always “deeply wrapped around her family”.

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Rees added: “She was a perfect wife and an excellent mother.

“Vivien was a very caring person and she thought of everybody.

“She was an all-round good egg.”

Rees says that when they ran the pub together that they developed the pub from nothing, with Vivien being the mastermind behind most of the ideas.

He added: “Vivien was in the back being quiet and I was front of house.

“The majority of ideas were Vivien’s and the pub became more of a community centre than a pub.

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“She did a lot for the community and the community spirit in Little Lever.”

Vivien was born in Elton, Bury, before moving to Great Lever.

She was also an avid Cliff Richard fan.

The pair had two stepdaughters together Nicola and Nina, and stepson Neil.

She was a very "family orientated" person, and although she was very well known in the community, Rees says she was very modest.

Rees added: “Vivien was very instrumental in lots of things, but never said anything.

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“She was very shy but if she didn’t agree with what you were saying, she would let you know about it.

“We dated a couple of times and decided we were for each other.

“We were married after three months.”

Rees said that his most memorable moment with his wife was when they got married and went to Southport for their honeymoon.

He said: “She made the bridesmaid dresses and her wedding dress herself.

“We married at Bolton Registry Office.

“We had one day in Southport for our honeymoon and my mum who was looking after the kids asked when we were coming back, so we went and brought the kids back here.”

This has had such a profound impact on Rees that he says if he didn’t have the children, he would find it even harder to “hold things together”.

He added: “We all help each other through it though, the four of us.”

Vivien was first taken to Royal Bolton Hospital with an aneurysm on December 21 before she had to be transferred to Salford Royal Hospital.

But after it continued to disappear several times, it also continued to come back, before Vivien died on February 15 at the Royal Bolton.

Rees added: “Reading between the lines she had a stroke and it was too much for her.

“The Royal Bolton Hospital have been absolutely fantastic.

“Nothing was too much trouble for them.”

If you have a story and something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at jasmine.jackson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @JournoJasmine.