She wrote to Milligan telling him what a "shot in the arm" it would be if he could surprise the old soldiers and the hundreds of people attending the reunion by showing up for it.
"I told him we loved his war books and if he came out he could stay at the Solway Park or at one of our homes and I would even fry an egg for him."
The letter was duly posted and slipped her mind until her bewildered husband told her on her return home from work one day that she had a letter from London.
"He offered to open it but I said 'don't you dare'."
Unfortunately Milligan could not make the trip but the reasons he gave were tongue-in-cheek.
The comic told Mrs Wylie-Stichbury he would have set sail for New Zealand "if I was a millionaire but I am only a trainee pauper".
He offered an olive branch, though, by saying if he ever had to flee to this country "to avoid my bank manager" he would certainly try to contact her.
His decision to reply to a Kiwi woman's invitation has warmed the cockles of her heart since.
