A COUPLE who met when they were children and fell in love years later are looking forward to spending their first Christmas together.

Cynthia, 70, and Michael Gentry, 72, say it is “thanks to God” that they met each other again decades later outside a florists and married in March this year.

They both used to attend the Salvation Army Church in Jersey Gardens, Wickford, with their families as children and that was where their friendship began more than 60 years ago.

After leaving the church in their early twenties both Cynthia and Michael moved away, married and had their own children and only met again years later.

Cynthia, of Wick Lane, Wickford, said: “I never thought I would feel a love like this again and we truly believe it is thanks to God that we were brought back together again.

“We lived at different ends of the country for so many years and it was through the work we both do for the Salvation Army which brought us back together.

“It seems impossible and I never ever thought that I could be this happy again.

“We are very much looking forward to spending our first Christmas together as a married couple after knowing one another since childhood.”

Michael and his first wife divorced and he later re-married and moved to Blackpool with his second wife who passed away in 2001.

After nine years on his own Michael and Cynthia rekindled their friendship after they met again as he played trombone for the Salvation Army band outside Cynthia’s daughters florist shop.

Michael added: “I knew Cynthia had taken some photos and so I asked my sister for her phone number and that was where it all started...we had a three hour phone conversation and that was it.

“I used to come back to the church for Christmas and to see my family who still live locally and so I had always known of Cynthia.

“From there we commuted between Essex and Blackpool for three years and then I decided to come back and live down here and we married at the Salvation Army Hall this year.

“We love coming here because it holds so much history for us and we are very active members of the congregation.”