The pair first met in 2003 when Simon, an accomplished and some say genius organist, was running late for a concert.
Sneaking in through the fire exit, he came face to face with Edna.
‘Ed opened the door and it was love at first sight,’ Simon remembers. ‘I thought to myself, <She’s a bit of alright!>’
They started writing letters to each other and were soon spending up to five hours a night talking on the phone.
Before hanging up, Simon would always play Edna’s favourite song, ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ on the organ for her.
But their budding romance had its complications.
Simon, who has Asperger’s, dyslexia, dyspraxia and diabetes, had never had a girlfriend before and was still living with his mum and dad.
He wasn’t sure how to tell them he’d fallen in love with a woman older than they were.
And although Edna loved Simon she thought he should have the chance to start a family with someone his own age.
But love won in the end, and in July 2005 the couple married.
Fourteen years later, the spark between Edna, 83, and Simon, 44, is stronger than ever.
‘We are still intimate in the bedroom as much as any couple in love,’ Edna says. ‘We’ll often stop in the street and have a damn good kiss.’
Simon’s parents soon accepted Edna as their daughter-in-law, and Edna’s children Lorraine, 59, and Russell, 57, are very supportive.
Russell even jokingly calls Simon ‘Dad’.
‘Our relationship has the same passion as a pair of 25-year-olds,’ Edna told the <Daily Mail.> ‘We kiss about 150 times a day. We hold hands all the time - we even sleep holding hands.’
The pair first met in 2003 when Simon, an accomplished and some say genius organist, was running late for a concert.
Sneaking in through the fire exit, he came face to face with Edna.
‘Ed opened the door and it was love at first sight,’ Simon remembers. ‘I thought to myself, She’s a bit of alright!’
They started writing letters to each other and were soon spending up to five hours a night talking on the phone.
Before hanging up, Simon would always play Edna’s favourite song, ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ on the organ for her.
But their budding romance had its complications.
Simon, who has Asperger’s, dyslexia, dyspraxia and diabetes, had never had a girlfriend before and was still living with his mum and dad.
He wasn’t sure how to tell them he’d fallen in love with a woman older than they were.
And although Edna loved Simon she thought he should have the chance to start a family with someone his own age.
But love won in the end, and in July 2005 the couple married.
Fourteen years later, the spark between Edna, 83, and Simon, 44, is stronger than ever.
‘We are still intimate in the bedroom as much as any couple in love,’ Edna says. ‘We’ll often stop in the street and have a damn good kiss.’
Simon’s parents soon accepted Edna as their daughter-in-law, and Edna’s children Lorraine, 59, and Russell, 57, are very supportive.
Russell even jokingly calls Simon ‘Dad’.
‘Our relationship has the same passion as a pair of 25-year-olds,’ Edna told the Daily Mail. ‘We kiss about 150 times a day. We hold hands all the time - we even sleep holding hands.’
I’m her man, not her pop!
When Cara Foxall, 25, first met Gordon Robertson, 55, at work in 2016 she didn’t realise he was 30 years older than her.
‘He dresses quite young, plus he’s young at heart, always telling jokes and not taking himself too seriously,’ Cara told the Daily Mail.
She also wasn’t sure if he was flirting with her or just being friendly.
It was flirting! And six months later they were living together.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the new lovers.
Cara, who was already a mum to Shaun, now four, was so concerned her parents wouldn’t support her relationship with Gordon because of the age gap that she didn’t tell them about him until she fell pregnant with their son Benjamin, now one.
Thankfully they were supportive.
With twin girls added to their family in January 2020, many people have expressed concern that the children may not have their dad in their lives long enough because he’s older.
But Cara isn’t concerned.
‘You can live to 90 or die at 30. We don’t know what’s around the corner,’ she insists.
Gordon does occasionally worry that people think he’s Cara’s grandfather, but Cara says it bothers him more than it does her.
However, she does think it’s funny that he listens to music that was made before she was born.
But in the end, their love isn’t ruled by numbers.
‘We’ve clicked because of our personalities,’ Cara says. ‘You can’t help when you were born, and you can’t help who you fall for.’
First boyfriend was a pensioner
Thomas Greig was on Facebook back in 2014 when he spotted Lorie fe Dales’ profile photo.
It was love at first sight.
But there were a few obstacles to meeting Lorie.
First, she lived in the Philippines and Thomas lived in England.
And secondly Thomas, 71, was 48 years her senior.
Thomas decided to take a risk and sent Lorie a message anyway.
‘The first time I saw him on Facebook, I was like, Wow, he might be old,’ Lorie confesses.
But after chatting with Thomas, Lorie realised their personalities just meshed.
She calls their meeting ‘destiny’.
Thomas flew to the Philippines to meet Lorie in July 2014.
‘I was so scared, shocked and I didn’t know what to say as he is my first boyfriend,’ Lorie says.
But they quickly realised they were in love and they married six months later.
Thomas still lives in the UK but spends five months at a time in the Philippines with Lorie and their daughter Mary, who was born in June 2016.
Although people often accuse Thomas of ‘buying’ himself a young, mail-order bride the couple say they know the truth and that’s all that matters.
‘People think that our ages matter but what I will say to them is we live our life the way we want and we are happy, thank you!’ Lorie insists.
