ANNE REID AND DEREK JACOBI TALK ABOUT THE NEW SERIES IN SATURDAY TV GUIDE
years. But something happened inside my heart. I knew Audrey was the one.” They began dating – and friendship blossomed into love. Doug says: “After being widowed, we both missed having a special person in our lives.We were so happy to find love again. I often pinched myself to think I’d found someone as beautiful and elegant as Audrey. “Young people sometimes think they’re the only ones who experience passion. But older people feel it, too. Second time around, you treasure it, even more.” After a few months, the couple – who have 12 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren between them, moved in together in Worcester Park, south-west London. Then Doug popped the question two years ago, as they worked on the vegetable patch of their Anchor Hanover home.
Audrey says: “I love Doug. He makes me laugh every day. When we go out, we often get chatting to people and they always seem to want to hear the story of how we got together.”
Their wedding at Sutton Register Office in August 2018 was followed by a reception at a British Legion Club.They continue to live a full life despite Audrey being diagnosed recently with mild dementia.
Among their hobbies are music and ballroom dancing, which they participate in at least once a week. Audrey says: “Our favourite dance is the tango.” Doug adds: “We both had wonderful first marriages and then destiny finally brought us together. My belief is, no matter how old you may be, you are never too old to find love.”
DIVORCEES Jonathan Weaver, 55, and Clare Morley, 53, met on the over-50s dating app Lumen. With four grownup children between them they were apprehensive about finding love again – but soon discovered they had real chemistry.
Jonathan says: “Clare looked striking in her photos, with legs to die for. I sent her a message and she replied while I was at a rugby match.
“We were chatting over sketchy wi-fi so I asked for her number. An hour later I was asking her on a date.”
The couple realised the attraction was more than skin deep after meeting up.
Jonathan, a retired Army engineer, says: “We had so many similarities. I was thinking I can’t believe I’ve found someone like this, and she said she felt the same.”
Two weeks after their first date, event planner Clare bought him a cashmere jumper.
Jonathan says: “She told me, ‘I want you to understand this represents my investment in our relationship because I think you’re great.’”
He admits to having been a bit of a jack-thelad with an eye for the ladies when he was in his 20s. He says: “As you get older you know what love is, as opposed to what you think it is.
“Now, it’s about sitting together on the couch with a glass of wine in the evening, talking and listening to each other.”
The Norfolk-based couple enjoy the simple pleasures of cooking and dog walking, as well as holidays away.
They plan to get married soon, partly because of issues surrounding Jonathan’s health. He reckons he has “10 really good years” to come after complications from spinal cancer more than two decades ago.
The lovebird said of Clare: “I recognise myself in her, someone who wants to be genuine, fulfilling, sweet and affectionate.”