True love waits half a lifetime

Photo: Alfie Ogg

Martin and Shirley

AN OLDHAM couple are about to marry 40 years after first meeting.

Martin Luke and Shirley Stock, who met again by chance through a dating website, are hoping to be reunited with their former Oldham hospital colleagues to share their happiness.

They will be married in Christ Church, Friezland, on Saturday. Martin, from Dobcross and Shirley, from Royton, were 18 and 17 respectively when they first began working in the hospital pathology labs in 1973.

Though they liked each other, neither made a move. When Shirley’s family moved to Cornwall in 1976 following her father’s death, she returned nine months later to find Martin was dating his future wife.

She returned to Cornwall from 1980-1983, looked after her son Robert (36), and finished her law training in 1989. Martin meanwhile moved to Dudley in 1980 and eventually went into teaching.

He returned to Oldham in 1992 to be closer to his family. Martin and his wife had a son but divorced in 2011 - after which Martin looked for a relationship online and spotted Shirley’s profile in November 2012. The pair arranged to meet - and have been inseparable since.

Martin (59), a science supply teacher, said: “We had a lot of common history, we didn’t have that getting-to-know-you awkwardness. We got on really well from the outset.”

Lawyer Shirley (58), who works in Wythenshawe, said: “It felt right when I met him again. He’s one of the nicest men I’ve ever known. He’s my best friend.”

They got engaged in September 2013 and are keen to find one friend again. Lesley Ann Baimbridge, formerly of Paddock Lane, Failsworth, was best friends with Shirley when they worked together at the hospital.