A GREAT-grandfather who has terminal cancer is able to watch his favourite TV programmes, thanks to a local retailer.

Margaret and Bill Brown got family and friends to look at the TV, which failed to pick up BBC1 and BBC2, but they were unable to fix it.

Bill, 72, has terminal cancer of the stomach, bowels, liver and prostate and likes to watch the small television in his kitchen but was frustrated that he couldn’t get the two channels.

Margaret was unable to ask for help from Comet, where it was bought, because the store has gone bust, so she wrote to the Adver asking for help.

Family-run domestic appliance specialists Hickmans, in Old Town, came to the rescue this week.

They sent out an engineer on Wednesday who was able to fix the TV and their service was praised by Margaret.

“It’s smashing,” she said. “We tried all ways to get these channels to work – our granddaughter messed with the controls, but no luck.

“The engineer came round and sorted it for us, he stayed with us and had a cup of tea and was not ready to run off straight away. The service was brilliant.

“It happened on a day Bill was meant to have chemotherapy but they sent him back home because his blood wasn’t suitable, so he was down with that news “But I said I had some good news and he was able to watch the TV.

“When you are on chemotherapy the nurses don’t want you to be out so I am cooking most of the day and he likes to watch TV.

“It might seem like a trivial thing to most people but for us it is smashing. Next time I need a TV I will definitely be paying them a visit and not one of the bigger companies.”

Randy Burden took over the Old Town store in October 2011 and thinks more people should support local companies because the customer service is second to none.

He said: “It is a pleasure to be able to help Margaret and her husband out.

“We do not usually carry out direct charity work but we pride ourselves on our service.

“I think it is important to support the local independent retailers as we don’t just sell the product but everything else that comes with it, like installation and support if things go wrong.”