SOUTHAMPTON pop star, artist and poet Greg Gilbert tied the knot with his long term partner Stacey Heale in an intimate ceremony in the city on Friday.

Greg, 41, and Stacey, 38, have been together for 12 years, having been introduced by Greg's brother and Delays bandmate Aaron.

The couple got engaged at the beginning of 2014, but did not get married as Greg was too ill.

At the time, it was thought that he was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, but was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, which had spread to his lungs, in winter 2016.

Stacey, who at the time was on maternity leave from her job as a fashion lecturer at Solent University, launched a huge fundraising campaign to pay for lifesaving treatment for him, not available on the NHS, which passed its initial £100,000 target in 48 hours, and has since raised more than double that sum, propelling the family into the spotlight.

The couple had a small wedding for 12 guests made up of their immediate families.

They had three bridesmaids: their daughters Dali (four) and Bay (two), and their niece Cherry.

The ceremony was held at the historic Westgate Hall, before moving on to celebrate at the couple's favourite hotel, The Pig in Brockenhurst.

They organised the wedding in three months, to take place in the only gap between Greg's cancer treatment.

Stacey, who writes a regular column for the Echo, Postcards from the Storm, said: "It's been so lovely to have had something exciting and fun to plan and look forward to.

"The girls have been involved in organising everything and have loved every minute.

"We only had a small window to get married in, between Greg's treatments.

"We wanted to do it when Greg would be feeling as well as he could do, rather than just getting through it with the effects of chemotherapy.

"We planned to get married years ago but Greg's illness took over, we had Dali and Bay and it never seemed the right time."

Greg is well known to music fans thanks to his band, Delays, whose hits include Hey Girl, Nearer than Heaven, Lost in a Melody and Long Time Coming.

Recently he has been making a name for himself in the worlds of both poetry and art. He drew attention with his incredibly detailed biro miniatures, some of which have been exhibited at Southampton City Art Gallery, and recently has moved into more abstract acrylic work.

Lately, he has been working to complete pieces to be featured at a forthcoming exhibition at Southampton City Art Gallery, where it will be exhibited alongside work by Leonardo Da Vinci.