Following on from last weeks blog about the identity of the real  Saint Valentine…here’s a story we think you might like. Valentine of Rome, one of the saints we mentioned , is thought to have been a priest in the time of Emperor Claudius. Claudius forbade marriage, because he wanted to build a huge army of men. But our hero Valentine decided to carry on marrying couples in secret. Soldiers arrived one night while he was performing a wedding ceremony and threw him into jail,  with a death sentence hanging over his poor romantic head. The jailer’s daughter visited him regularly. On the day of his death, he left her a farewell note, saying how she had kept him cheerful during their time together. He signed it ‘From Your Valentine’….Is this the real start of what we know as Valentine’s Day…. Be that as it may,  there’s no doubt about it, folk do get all shook up about  declarations of love on February 14th.