AT THE age of 73 and 79 respectively, William Gover and Ann Walton, were today walking down the aisle again,

living proof that you really are never too old to find love. The couple, who are both natives of York, were getting married at the city's register office.

"When my first wife died in 1988, I said I would never remarry," said William, who is a former bus driver and former caretaker of Archbishop of York Junior School at Bishopthorpe.

"But then I met Ann and changed my mind. We are in our 70s, but we both wanted to be happy in our later years, and I think we will be very, very happy together."

William and Ann met at the Oliver House residential home in Priory Street, York, where he was living, and she was a day patient.

Nine months after they met, William proposed and the couple now live at Ann's house at Dringhouses.

Ann worked on the production line at Rowntree for 39 years and her husband died about 17 years ago. Her daughter is said to be over the moon that her mother is to be a bride again. William said his eldest son, Keith, was happy for them both, if a little surprised.

"He said I was a bit old to be getting married again," he said.

William and Ann had planned to head for the bright lights of Blackpool for their honeymoon, but the recent cold weather has scotched their plans, and now they hope to fly to the U.S. to stay with a relative of Ann's later in the year.

Updated: 11:41 Saturday, February 17, 2001