Two love-struck pensioners are finally planning to tie the knot – 50 YEARS after they first got engaged.
Barrie Edwards, 72, met Carole Rhead, 69, in 1962 and the pair fell in love after writing secret love letters to each other.
They got engaged two years later 1964 when Barrie was 20 and Carole was 18 and planned to spend the rest of their lives together.
But they were forced to split up when their parents banned them from seeing each other after finding the romantic notes.
They went their separate ways and Barrie later married Pauline for 24 years while Carole was married to Frank for 22 years.
But after the pair both lost their spouses, they were stunned when they spotted each other across the dancefloor at a school reunion in 2002.
Barrie then wrote his number on the box of a TV that Carol won in a raffle and the pair quickly rekindled their romance five decades on.
They have now resumed their engagement and have been together for the last 13 years living in Malvern, Worcs.
But despite being the longest engaged couple in Britain – the couple STILL haven’t set a date for their big day.
Retired purchasing manager Barrie, who has two children and three grandchildren, said: “We will get married. We just don’t know when yet.
“It will be sometime in the new year, I can’t keep her waiting forever. It’s been on the cards for a while.
“When I saw Carole at the reunion my face lit up.
“We have both been through the same situation with losing our partners but now we have found each other it’s magical.
“It’s as if Pauline and Frank have put us together and they want us to be happy. And 13 years later we couldn’t be more thrilled.
“We were so happy to continue our engagement and I suppose in a weird way we haven’t ever really not been engaged, we just had to leave it for a few years.
“We’re completely happily in love.”
Barrie met back up with Carole, who lost her husband Frank to a brain tumour, after his wife Pauline died in a car accident.
The pair were stunned when they saw each other at the reunion for their old school Nunnery Wood Secondary School.
Retired admin worker Carole, who has three children and three grandchildren, said: “When we were younger, we were so in love.
“We spent every waking hour together and would always be writing letters to each other.
“Then Barrie asked me to marry him and it was the happiest day of my life.
“In the 60s things were a lot different though and our parents forbid us to see each other after they found out about our relationship.
“It was the most heartbreaking thing.
“I moved on and married Frank and Barrie married Pauline.
“We both had children, and grandchildren, and got on with our lives, although there was still a hole within each of us that was never filled. Until now.
“I’m looking forward to finally being able to marry Barrie. He is the love of my life.”
