IT was a milestone Julie Hughes tried her best to keep a secret.
But her husband Graeme had other ideas on how to make her 40th birthday go with a bang.
He decided to blow up her image and paste it onto a 10 ft high billboard.
And the mum-of-one, from Winwick, became a topic of conversation for commuters travelling into the town centre for a week.
The main picture – taken in Mexico on her 30th birthday – is posted with the words Happy 40th birthday Julie Hughes, love Graeme.
Julie said: “I have been worrying about my 40th for the past year.
“I didn’t want a fuss at all. Now this. When I first saw it I screamed, it was such a shock. Now I’m mortified as everyone knows.
“I’m so embarrassed but it was a really nice, fun thing to do. Forty is definitely going to be the new 30 for me though.”
Graeme, aged 42, who works in advertising at Primesight in Manchester, managed to get a cheap deal to secure the prime location for the surprise.
He added: “I wanted to do something a bit different and quirky and this just seemed to be the best idea.
“I parked up near it and it took her a while for it to sink in that it was her picture on the poster but then she started screaming.
“She just couldn’t believe it but I could tell she was happy.”
And as well as organising the poster he also arranged a surprise party at the Marriot hotel in Preston and later whisked her off on a romantic weekend break to Rome.
Julie has now started a career as a primary school teacher having previously been a retail manager for high street giant Arcadia.
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