True romance (From York Press)

True romance

Does romance exist beyond St Valentine's Day? MAXINE GORDON tracks down

real-life Romeos who've got the love bug all year round

LIKE thousands of other women across North Yorkshire, Beth Dale will be receiving a gift from her beloved to mark St Valentine's Day tomorrow. But unlike most other women, Beth will get a present the following day and the day after. In fact, Beth will be getting a pressie every day from husband Brian. For this York couple, every day is St Valentine's Day.

"We are Britain's most romantic couple, without a doubt," asserts Brian. "I buy - or give - Beth a present every day. It might be something I've made myself, or it might be a bar of chocolate. It could be some perfume, it depends what I can afford. Sometimes, I'll just pick a flower from the garden."

And it's not just presents that Beth is showered with. Brian leaves love notes around the house too.

"I might leave one behind a picture or in a drawer," he says.

And Beth does the same for him.

"I used to go fishing and I could guarantee that when I opened my lunch box there would be a note from Beth saying 'I love you'."

Unsurprisingly, those three little words feature a lot in Brian and Beth's lives.

"We tend to say 'I love you' 20 to 30 times a day," says Brian, 63. "It's the first thing we say in the morning and the last thing we say at night."

Arguments are something unknown to Beth and Brian who live at Hawthorn Meadows, off Water Lane. "We've never had one," he says. "We are each other's half, we're soul mates. We even think alike."

The couple have a shared interest in country and western music and line dancing. Beth, 43, is the Evening Press's country music writer.

Whereas Brian specialises in little gifts, Beth's forte is surprises. There was the time Brian thought they were going for a weekend break to a caravan, but Beth had booked them into the honeymoon suite at a nice hotel. Or the occasion when Beth took him out for a slap up meal - only for the entire family to turn up and join them.

But Brian has surprised Beth too - not least when he proposed to her on stage in front of 500 people during a night out while on holiday.

Then there was the time Beth thought they were heading to London for the weekend, but in fact Brian had lined up a three-week holiday to Florida.

"We only had a weekend bag and had to buy all our clothes over there," Brian recalls.

"The proposal and the trip to Florida were probably the most romantic things Brian's ever done," says Beth.

The couple - who each have been married twice before - tied the knot 11 years ago in a register office. But they felt they had missed out on the real thing, so six years later they renewed their vows - at a country and western-style wedding in a York church.

Their claim to be Britain's number one sweathearts carries some weight. Five years ago, they were named the Most Romantic Couple in Britain by a national magazine, and came runners up in a TV competition on the same theme.

"We'd like everybody to be like us," says Brian.

Beth agrees that a little bit more romance would go a long way. "In this world, everyone is rushing around and most people just think about themselves. We should think about the other person and if you love that person you should put them first."

Brian believes they have been lucky to find each other. "I say thank you every day for Beth. It's a privilege to have a love like this."

THEY say opposites attract. Well that is certainly true for Paula Wilde and Mike Hanns. Both are members of the 17th century historical re-enactment organisation Sealed Knot, and met while engaged in a skirmish against each other.

"I'm in a Parliament regiment and Mike's a Royalist. He keeps wanting me to defect, but I like to be a bit of a rebel," jokes Paula.

The 29-year-old mother of two met Mike, 40, at a Sealed Knot event in High Wycombe last September.

"I was dressed as a man in full cavalry kit," says Paula, who belongs to the Sir William Waller's Regiment of the Horse.

"I asked him over to our camp for some stew - and the next day following the skirmish he invited me to his camp for some tea."

They exchanged phone numbers and romance blossomed from there.

Paula's two children, Laura, ten, and Kieran, four, and Mike's two kids, Marie, ten, and Ellen, seven, are also in Sealed Knot and have become friends.

This week not only marks the couple's first St Valentine's Day together, but the start of a new chapter in their lives.

Paula has left her job with York solicitors Harrowell Shaftoe and moved down south with Laura and Kieran to live with Mike in Hertfordshire.

So will the Sealed Knot lead them to tie the knot? Paula laughs, but says it could be on the cards.

"If we did it, it would be a 17th century wedding. That's often done in the Sealed Knot."

Paula admits they are both surprised at finding love again. "We'd both given up on finding love. It's just come by coincidence. We literally bumped into each other and we're so compatible.

"We talk on the phone at least three times a day and visit each other at the weekends.

"I'll make a fuss of him on Valentine's Day, but to be honest, we're romantic all the time."

We asked Evening Press readers to write in and share their own romantic stories to mark St Valentine's Day...

Edith Hobson, of Bell Farm, York, writes:

"I'm 88 years old and my love story of 66 years started in 1930 when I came to York to be in service with Mr and Mrs Wisley, who was then the editor of the Evening Press. He used to give me a ticket on my evenings off to go to the pictures, the theatre or the Empire. I used to go to the Empire, where I met my husband, George, who used to shine the lights down on to the stage from the balcony. He was on the dole and earned ten shillings a week for pocket money.

We struck up a friendship and married in 1933.

I had 66 years of perfect marriage. He was a wonderful husband all round, worked so hard at the Northern Electricity Board for 40 years. We had a daughter. He was the best husband and always thought of us, everything he did was for us.

If I looked the world over, I couldn't have found a more loving and thoughtful man. We had lovely years together. Now my George isn't with me. I still talk to him and kiss him goodnight. God bless him."

Denise Sams, of York, emailed us to say:

"November 1966. Two lonely sailors on HMS Trowbridge write to pirate radio station Radio Caroline for pen friends. Student at college in Clacton-on-Sea hears request and decides to write.

The sailors received so many letters they invited other sailors to choose possible pen friends from all the letters.

Jim chose my letter, we wrote for 15 months, met in February 1968 and married six months later in August 1968.

The best part of this story is that 33 years after that meeting (which we still celebrate on February 21), we are still as much in love and are still behaving as romantically as a pair of newleyweds.

Well, we think that's romantic!"