A couple of star-crossed lovers who dated as teens have rekindled their childhood romance after more than 32 years apart.
Dawn Gray and Lee Richards fell in love at first sight when they met on Southend Pier in July 1991, aged 17 and 15.
Romance blossomed when gallant Lee offered Dawn one of his chips and the two got chatting. But the course of true love never did run smooth and the couple ended up separated for decades.
On that July day though, the teenagers swapped phone numbers and began talking regularly, with Lee visiting Dawn every single weekend over the summer, Essex Live reports.
Eventually though Dawn bowed to pressure from her single pals and broke off the relationship even though she still loved him.
Heartbroken Lee said he often thought of calling at her parents' home over the years. They both then had other long-term relationships and kids.
But Lee, now 49, contacted her on Facebook 32 years later, and chatted for three hours a day before meeting after just a few weeks. Now a couple, they say they are just as keen on each other as they were as teens.
Dawn, 47, a teaching assistant from Rainham, Essex, said: "It was meant to be. We picked up again just like that - like time hadn't passed. When he arrived at my door after all that time we just stood laughing - it just felt like when we were young again.
"It will always feel like that with him. We can literally talk about anything; we just go from subject to subject, and we laugh so much. It's no problem if we don't have money to do anything, we're just happy to be together.
"I've often thought about him over the years. It was love at first site on both sides. We felt so comfortable together right from the start. We just started chatting and mucking about. That's what we do now too."
Lee, a window cleaner from Holt, Norfolk, said: "When I first ever saw her I knew there was something special about her, and she looked stunning. Now it honestly feels like we've never been apart. When I saw her on the doorstep recently I just wanted to give her a huge kiss."
The pair lived ten miles apart but met on a day trip to Southend. Sparks flew, and they chatted for hours before her parents came to find her. Dawn was married for ten years and had son Jack, 23, and daughter Ellie, 21. She then split from her long-term partner and dad to Ruby, 11, in 2019.
Lee separated from a partnership of 28 years in 2019. He was encouraged to get into social media by his daughters. The first thing he did was look up Dawn on Facebook and send her a message, in January.
They met on Dawn's doorstep on February 17, and now spend every Friday to Monday together and chat for an hour every evening, and a half hour on lunch breaks. Both had been dating but not clicked with anyone else.
“We were ready to be together", said Dawn. "I just knew it would be alright when I messaged her," said Lee. "The time was right.
