A pair of teenage sweethearts have been reunited after more than 50 years apart.
Barrie Yates, 70, and Marion Walsh, 68, had an emotional reunion at Manchester Airport after Barrie tracked down Marion on the other side of the world.
And now the couple, both from Accrington, plan to get married next year.
Barrie, who lives in France, said: “We both cried. The tears were really flowing. We never thought we’d see each other again.”
The pair met at a dance at the Arcadian nightclub on Knowlmere Street in 1957.
Marion said: “We went out for nearly a year, but we had a falling out and went our separate ways.”
Barrie said: “I was too stubborn, arrogant and pig-headed to go up to her house to apologise.”
Barrie married Marion’s best friend Anne in 1959 and the pair left Accrington when he joined the RAF in 1961.
Marion married in 1959 and went with her husband and three sons to live in Australia in 1968. They divorced in 1979.
After Anne died in 2004, Barrie’s niece Caroline Carter encouraged him to get in touch with old friends online. He finally managed to track down Marion’s email address in June last year.
He emailed Marion, but she didn’t realise who it was at first.
She said: “It was absolutely unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it was him. He
didn’t know where I was.
“When it clicked who it was I replied saying: ‘OMG my long lost love’.”
The pair spent the next few months catching up by exchanging emails and chatting via webcam.
Marion said: “It was a cyber romance. Because of the time difference he was getting up as I was going to bed.”
Marion decided to make a clean break and come over and live in France with Barrie. The pair move in together next week into Barrie’s home in Brittany.
Barrie said: “Next year, all being well, we’ll get married somewhere in England.”
And if Marion has her way, it’ll be in their own special place - Blackpool.
n turn to page 5
