LOVE blossomed once more for Kath Twidale when she moved into a residential home in Felixstowe.Mrs Twidale had been married for 52 years until her husband died, and she was to find love again with one of the home's residents.

By Richard Smith

LOVE blossomed once more for Kath Twidale when she moved into a residential home in Felixstowe.

Mrs Twidale had been married for 52 years until her husband died, and she was to find love again with one of the home's residents.

And yesterday Mrs Twidale, 78, and Russell Powell, 81, tied the knot in a wedding ceremony at Trinity Methodist Church, Felixstowe.

Mr Powell had been married for 42 years until his wife died and he discovered the new love of his life when a few residents from White Gables residential home, in Stanley Road, walked together to church.

The build-up to the wedding day caused great excitement among the home's 37 residents, and the staff paid for the couple to spend their wedding night at the Brook Hotel, Felixstowe.

Mr Powell said: “Life has been good to us. I think at this stage of our lives it is companionship more than anything that means so much to us.

“It seemed the logical thing to do, we spend so much time together.

“This home has been so wonderful and the staff have been so good to us. Homes for the elderly sometimes have bad publicity but we could not do better than being in this place.”

Mrs Powell said: “We have so much in common and we like walking, doing the crossword, listening to classical music including Beethoven, Strauss and Mozart, and we spend a lot of time just talking.”

She added that with a combined total of 94 years of marriage behind them the couple felt they were well prepared to be married again.

“I think it is the first time at this home that two residents have got married,” added Mrs Powell.

The couple attended morning service at 11am and then they returned to the church for their afternoon wedding ceremony. It was conducted by Rob Anning, the Methodist minister, and he was assisted by Mr Powell's son-in-law Tony Marsh.

Their chosen hymns were Love divine, Make me a channel of your peace and One more step along the way we go.

There were so many guests that not everyone could return to the residential home for the celebration buffet and so the wedding cake, made by one of Mrs Powell's daughters, was taken to the church.

Mrs Powell was given away by Jim Baxter, a son-in-law, and Ian Davies, her other son-in-law, was the best man.