Derbyshire couple who met at grief support group tied the knot following whirlwind romance two years after the death of their spouses

Ruth Vowles, 70, and George Palmer, 86, faced separate heartbreak after they both lost their partners during lockdown in 2020 just three months apart.

Ruth’s husband of 42 years Steve died in July 2020, aged 68, having had two strokes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. George had sadly lost Liz, his wife of 61 years, in April that year following a battle with terminal lung cancer.

Lonely Ruth decided to join a bereavement group at Treetops Hospice, in Derby, to help her get over the death of her husband. There she met George, who was also grieving the death of his son David, and a friendship quickly blossomed.

The pair admit sparks didn't fly at first but they soon bonded after George began giving lifts to Ruth when she broke her ankle. Ruth and George finally hit it off in February this year after falling for each other and became a couple the day before Valentine's Day.

Following their whirlwind romance, George popped the question in the romantic setting in the gardens of the Palazzo Pfanner in Lucca, Italy, in May this year.

To his delight she said 'yes' and the smitten couple tied the knot at a ceremony at Gibraltar's Botanical Gardens surrounded by close family members.

Gran-of-four Ruth, a retired teacher, of Sandiacre, said: "Hopefully our story will give other people hope who have lost a loved one. We both miss our partners terribly but I don't think either of them would have wanted us to be on our own and sometimes you have to take risks in life.

"We hope people realise that it is possible to love more than one person in this life and us getting married again doesn’t detract from our previous, very happy marriages."

Ruth joined the hospice's Tears to Laughter bereavement group in September 2020 before George joined in April 2021.

Ruth added: “I lost Steve in July and I was all by myself as our grown up boys lived away. I didn’t have anyone and I saw an advert for Treetops. A woman started a group for five of us that had been bereaved.

“It started to grow and get more people and George joined. When he lost his son and wife he didn’t know anyone, so he was persuaded to come by his daughter-in-law.

“After George joined we started going out. We were friends for a long time, we were the only two who had no family locally.

“I broke my ankle on a walk in Dartmoor so George chauffeured me around and then I was helping him unpack in his new house and we just started to hit it off. It was the day before Valentine's Day when we became a couple. We were at a birthday party and we got a taxi back and we just clicked.

“We got engaged in May. We just thought we should wait until we had sorted our partner's ashes out and then we did it.

“George proposed in Lucca, I'd been there with Steve so I knew it was lovely. We're very inclusive of each others partners. There's things in the house from Steve and Liz. We had the wedding in Gibraltar. Neither of us thought we wanted to marry again but we were wanting to do this.

"We were outside, the weather was perfect - it was just what we wanted and very romantic.We enjoyed a wonderful wedding and a week-long holiday with our family and close friends.

"Everything has happened so fast. We were friends this time last year and it wasn't until February when we decided to give it a go. Life has completely changed for us."

Staff at Treetops Hospice also put on a party for the newlyweds when they returned, even providing a second wedding cake.

Mum-of-two Ruth added: “The hospice held a party for us when we came back to the UK and it was like a second wedding. It's like another big family. They made us another wedding cake and decorated the place with balloons, and flowers and gave us a voucher for a garden centre.

"We're very grateful to the hospice because we wouldn't have known one another otherwise, nor would we have met all the wonderful friends we've made.“George and I feel lucky to have attended such a wonderful group where we have time for sad reflections but have also created so many wonderful memories.

“The last few months have been an emotional time, deciding what is appropriate and thinking about the feelings of other members of the family. Neither of us will forget Liz or Steve and we still have many tearful moments when we need to support each other. George is just very kind, very thoughtful. He's what I needed to support me.”

The couple are now planning to jet off on their honeymoon in the new year to Andorra. George, a grandad-of-four and a retired RAF aircraft engineer added: “After you’ve been with someone else for so long, you disappear into your own little world.

“Certain people bring you out of it. One was my daughter-in-law, one was Julie the group leader at Treetops and the other was Ruth.

“We got talking over curtain hooks on WhatsApp. We understand that we both loved our partners before - but we both fit and we both love each other.

"Married life is good and we're looking forward to our future together."