One happy couple in the U.K. is proudly announcing their engagement — and opening up about their unexpected love story.
85-year-old Pamela Walters and Colin Hopper, 73, are celebrating their engagement after one year together, spent entirely at Picton Court Care Home in Porthcawl, about 25 miles west of Cardiff.
The BBC reported that the couple got engaged on Jan. 28 with the help of the facility’s staff.
The pair spent a year full of laughter, companionship and daily visits together before Pamela proposed to Colin in her bedroom. Colin then asked staff for help buying a ring.
Colin told the BBC he was shocked when Pamela called him into her room.
“I said, ‘What’s the matter, Pam? Have I done something wrong?’” he recalled. She told him no and asked him to sit down. He said he sat in his wheelchair beside her and watched TV when she asked, “Will you engage me?”
Colin replied, “Of course I will.”
With the help of a staff member, he ordered an engagement ring online, and it arrived two days later.
“My ring is lovely,” Pamela said, adding that the engagement felt “marvelous.”
Colin said he “thought the world” of Pamela and “loved her to bits,” adding that it was love at first sight the first time he saw her.
“I told her I loved her, and that was it,” he said. “She’s very straight, and that’s what I like — people who don’t tell lies.”
“We talk about anything — anything that comes our way,” he added. “I wind her up a bit. I like to cheer her up, to help her have a cheerful day.”
Pamela, who is widowed, said Colin was “interesting” to her from the moment they first met four years ago.
“I love everything about him,” she said, adding that Colin is “kind” and makes her “feel happy” during his daily visits.
To mark their engagement, staff at Picton Court Care Home celebrated the couple with a party.
“They did the room for us. They did it all,” Pamela told the BBC, adding that they haven’t begun wedding planning and are simply enjoying each other’s company for now. “It was beautiful. It really was. We had a lovely, lovely day.”
Pamela’s daughter, Susan Salvatore-Davies, said she was excited about her mother’s engagement and noted that when Pamela first arrived at the facility, she struggled with loneliness and relied heavily on her daughter for support.
“So to know that she’s safe and looked after in every way possible, even more now, it does take the pressure off,” Salvatore-Davies said.
The engagement has also been a point of pride for staff at Picton, including manager Shajitha Augustine, who said the couple had a “fantastic, very private” party she will “never forget.”
“I’ve been working in this industry nearly 28 years, so when I heard that I was quite shocked, but to be honest I’m really happy,” she said. “People think at a care home, it’s the end of the journey, but this is an opportunity for people to find new friendship, new hobbies, companionship.”
