PAST AND PRESENT

Liz Brewster, 73, Lancaster

Putting the finishing touches to the Christmas tree, I sat back to admire it. ‘You’ve done a lovely job,’ my fiancé Charlie, now 70, smiled at me.

Charlie and I loved the festive season, and had enjoyed spending it together ever since we’d bumped into each other in a pub in 2008.

I’d actually first met Charlie back in 1971, when I was just 25-years-old, working at a hospital as a student nurse.

Charlie had come in with a football injury, and while I tended to him, we’d made a connection.

But when he was discharged a few days later, we lost touch.

I’d gone on to marry twice and have my three children – Tim, now 51, Sarah, 50, and James, 42.

When my second husband passed away, I’d found myself pretty lonely.

Then...

‘Don’t I know