Gwen McCutcheon and David Bain were reunited this week, nearly 55 years after Bain was part of a fatal accident involving Gwen’s first husband, Roy McBrydie, during a club cricket match in Blenheim.

Gwen McCutcheon's world was thrown into turmoil in 1960 when her husband, Roy McBrydie, died instantly after being struck by the ball during a club cricket match in Blenheim. David Bain, the batsman who hit the ball which felled McBrydie, was only 19 when forced to deal with his role in the accident. This week, prompted by Marlborough Express cricket reporter Patrick Dawkins' story a month ago on the incident, the pair reunited, having not been in contact since that fateful day more than five decades ago.

Although their paths haven't crossed in 55 years, Gwen McCutcheon has often had David Bain on her mind.

"I've thought about him lots of times," said the woman who was left widowed with six children after her husband died so tragically at Horton Park.

"Not in a nasty way, in a good way, hoping he was all right."

David was all right, and he had largely put the incident out of his mind - a young man trying to move on with life after being directly involved in a horrible accident.

This week though, after more than half a century without contact, the two met up again and were able to discuss their lives since and how Roy's death had affected them.

Memories of the Blenheim accident were rekindled in November when Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes died after being struck by a ball while batting.

Roy McBrydie suffered the same cause of death as Hughes, a subarachnoid haemorrhage but despite both occurring on the cricket field, they occurred in different fashion. McBrydie was bowling for Tua Marina when David, batting for Wairau, drove the ball back. McBrydie attempted to catch the ball but instead it glanced off his hand and struck him in the neck, causing his fatal injury.

That evening, David visited the widow and offered his condolences. He was well received by Gwen, who told him not to bother himself with his part in the accident. Then, for the next 55 years, the two went their separate ways.

Gwen, 29 at the time, had a tough time dealing with the loss of her husband, followed less than six months later by the death of her youngest child. Her oldest was only nine but she got through, remarried to Barry McCutcheon and became eager to meet David again.

David was able to put the incident behind him, helped by Gwen's considerate reaction on the night of the accident and his cricket club's advice that he get straight back into playing cricket again the following week - advice he took.

He moved out of Marlborough two years later but visits occasionally.

"I must admit that for a considerable number of years I put it right out of my mind," the 73-year-old said back in Blenheim this week. "I was growing up, I became a husband and I had a lot of things on my mind.

"Then about five years ago I started sitting down at my table at home and thinking about what had happened and I decided to write to the Marlborough cemetery to ask where Roy was buried. I got no answer to that letter.

"Then I had a period where I was determined to go to the grave site when I came to Blenheim in 2011. On that day in February, John [Poswillo, who was also playing in the match in 1960] and I and our wives went searching and we found the grave site. I looked at the grave stone and I could not believe it, it said the 20th of February [as the date of death] and I was just stunned because that was the day we were visiting."

That visit gave David some closure on the incident but when he was contacted by The Marlborough Express in December, following the passing of Hughes in Australia, he expressed a desire to meet Gwen, and she was of the same mind.

"I have never forgotten about him," Gwen said. "I have always wondered where he was and what he was doing. If he was OK."

David, who now lives in Wellington, had a trip to Blenheim planned for January and so, after talking briefly via phone, the two planned a reunion.

"My wife was querying how I was going to handle it and I said I felt I could handle it exceptionally well," David said of the meeting with Gwen. "I have always been very positive about the fact Gwen wanted to meet me. If she had said 'I am interested to know where you live and so forth, but I don't want to meet you,' I would of never tried to come."

"But I would never have said that," Gwen is quick to point out as we sit in her Blenheim flat following the reunion.

Both said the meeting was beneficial.

"David learnt stuff he didn't know and I learnt stuff I didn't know," Gwen said.

David goes into more detail. "I expressed my deep regret for what had happened. Gwen responded with, 'It is not your fault. It is nothing to get upset about.' We talked around that for a while. We talked about her family."

You get the sense that he made the visit to ensure Gwen was all right, to put his mind at ease and get some closure on an incident that happened long ago.

Gwen seems equally generous in her motives, wanting to make sure the sincere young man that showed up on her doorstep on the evening of February 20, 1960 was able to recover from any trauma he may have suffered.

As David leaves Gwen's flat, the parting is emotional but nothing like the last time he left her home. A closer relationship has now been forged and they hope to see each other again, with the invitation to "come back for a cup of tea anytime" left hanging in the air.