Three years after losing her husband to cancer in 2018, Louise moved to Cupar in Fife for a fresh start. “I’d been living in Glasgow but had so many memories of my husband there. I wanted to be by the sea on the east coast, where the weather is better.” She found work as a religious guidance counsellor in Perth and quickly fell in love with the peaceful, rural community. “The only thing missing in my life was music,” she says. “I’ve always loved singing, so I joined a community choir in the spring of 2022.”
She soon met Paul, who was also in the choir. “I’m an alto and he’s a bass but we were sitting very close to each other in practice.” Paul admits he had “the hots” for Louise from day one, but was too shy to approach her. He had lived in the area for 28 years and been divorced for 15 years, with no expectations of meeting a new partner. “I was setting myself up for a single retirement,” he says. “I was working at a local college teaching green-keeping – how to look after golf courses. I’d given up on the idea of love.”
He realised Louise was widowed, but got the impression she wasn’t ready to meet anyone. “She still wore her wedding rings, which I took as a sign. I was also really busy with work and wouldn’t have been in the right place to date.”
It wasn’t until the end of the year, after the Christmas concert, that they started to bond. “Paul met me at the door and told me I looked amazing,” says Louise. “He said: ‘I’m so glad you’re here.’ That was the first time I thought there was something more between us.” During the concert, they sang Ewan Tait and Kim André Arnesen’s Flight Song. “It describes a longing for love yet the fear of embarking on that journey, so it seemed to suit us perfectly,” she laughs.
Callout
After the concert, Louise added Paul as a friend on Facebook. “I was thrilled to bits,” he says. “I decided to take my chance and tentatively asked if she’d like to go out.”
They agreed to meet up a few days later in St Andrews, for lunch. “Cupar is a really small place and we wanted to be a little more anonymous,” says Louise. “We talked for hours and the cafe staff had to ask for the table back.” She was so distracted by how much she liked Paul that she left without paying. “When I realised and went back, the waiters asked about our date.”
Just before Christmas 2022, they went to the pantomime together. “I thought, if he can be silly and laugh, he’s my sort of person,” she says. Paul really enjoyed their dates. “She has a great sense of humour and is very family oriented like me. I found out she had three sons who are all married, and three granddaughters. I also have a son.”
When Louise spent the Christmas holidays with her family in Manchester, Paul admits he was “chewing the walls waiting for her to come back”. They sent messages to each other every day and then she invited him to Newcastle to watch her son play in a band at a Burns Night party.
“Introducing him to my family was a big step,” says Louise. After that, the relationship continued to move quickly. “We joke that, because we’re 60, we only have half the time left, so we need to get on with things,” says Paul. In March last year, they went to Northumberland for a week, which cemented the relationship. “After that, we knew it was right. It was very natural and comfortable,” says Louise.
At the end of July, they moved in together, after a 10-day holiday in Iceland. They plan to get married in May in Fife, surrounded by their friends and family. “There’s so much bad news so it’s nice to be bringing some joy,” says Louise. Paul adds that all their children are thrilled to bits.
Paul appreciates his partner’s honesty and her sense of fun. “She’s up for anything and is so compassionate and thoughtful towards others.” Meanwhile, Louise loves the way Paul connects with others. “He always introduces me to new people and we have great conversations,” she says. “Life is short and fragile, and we want to make the most of being together for as long as we have.”
