88-year-old widowers find love again at the gym

A pair of retirees who both lost their partners have fallen in love again at age 88 — after meeting among the barbells at the gym.

Now widowed, Barbara Thompson and Fred Jenkins said they’d never expected to find love again after their long-term partners passed away.

Barbara, who turned 89 last week, moved into Oscott Retirement Village in Birmingham ten years ago after losing her husband to cancer.

Fred, a former Army PT instructor whose wife died three years ago, met Barbara in the village gym during a workout session with her friend.

Barbara had started going only for moral support when a friend asked her to come along. Fred, with a lifelong passion for weights, began coaching them.

The friend stopped going, but Barbara kept turning up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday — and Fred kept coaching.”We laughed a lot and we joked a lot and I started looking forward to going to the gym,” Barbara said.

Before long, the pair were inseparable.”When my wife passed away, I just thought that’s the end of the world now,” said Fred. “You marry, you’ve got a partner, if they pass, that’s it, done and dusted and you’re on your own. I never ever thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever have another partner and neither did Barbara. We were lonely and then we found each other… It’s a whole new ball game.”

Now the lovebirds spend almost every day side by side — hitting the gym three times a week, playing darts and dominoes, gardening together, and dancing whenever music comes on. They recently took their first vacation together as a couple.

Despite finding love, they have no plans to tie the knot or move in together, choosing to keep their own apartments and independence.”We’ve suddenly found a new lease of life,” Barbara said.