‘I found love again in my 70s after losing my wife – I’ve never been so happy as I am now’

A 77-year-old window cleaner who moved into an independent later living community after losing his wife of 41 years has found love again in his 70s, saying he has “never been so happy as I am now”.

Michael Grimshaw, who lives at Pegasus Homes’ Highfields residence in West Byfleet, Surrey, met Lulu, also 77, in a chance encounter in 2023.

He “never went looking for love”, but the couple “found each other” and love “fell across both of us”, and now Michael and Lulu are looking forward to a romantic Valentine’s weekend celebrating their third year of dating.

Michael, who has been working as a window cleaner for 60 years, lost his wife of 41 years to mental illness in 2018. He remained at their three-bedroom house in Surrey, but found he was “sort of rattling around” there, and decided to begin a new chapter of his life by moving into a smaller apartment in a retirement community in August 2023.

While Michael is not retired, still cleaning windows four mornings a week, his relocation to his “wonderful” Highfields apartment has seen his life transform with new friendships, new hobbies, and even new love.

Michael met Lulu at a local choir group, which he had been encouraged to join by a family member. He wasn’t keen at first, as singing in a choir would be a “complete new venture” for Michael, who said he “probably last sang when I was at school in assembly”.

But, having got involved in lots of new social activities at Highfields, including coffee mornings, drinks nights, and music performances, he decided to give it a go – and to his surprise, he “thought it was brilliant”.

Through the choir, Michael went to a local event where he “spied Lulu from a distance, and I just thought: ‘Well, she looks like a nice lady’,” he told PA Real Life.

He learned that the choir leader, Victoria, was Lulu’s daughter, and while he’d chatted to Lulu a couple of times, it wasn’t until “quite a bit later” that he plucked up the courage to ask her on a date.

“We did a big choir event in a hall in Fleet, and Lulu was on the door selling raffle tickets with her friend,” he said.

“She said to me: ‘Are you going to buy a raffle ticket?’ I said, ‘Yes, of course, I will’.

“I bought two raffle tickets for £5 each, and I said to Lulu: ‘If I buy a third one, can I have a date with you?’

“And she said: ‘No, Michael!’

“I was put back a bit, I suppose. Anyway, the next night was choir with Victoria, and after we sang, before I left, I said: ‘Victoria, I said I asked Lulu for a date last night, and she turned me down, I’m very disappointed’.

“All I had was a Tesco receipt in my pocket, so I wrote my mobile number on the back of it, and gave it to Victoria. About a week later, Lulu rang me up, and she said: ‘I’d like to have a date with you’.

“Our first date was on October 28 2023.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Michael and Lulu are now in their third year of dating, and continue to live separately but see each other every week and regularly spend weekends at each other’s homes, which Michael said is “absolutely brilliant”.

“I’ve said to Lulu: ‘I love you to bits, but I don’t want to live with you’. And she’s of the same opinion,” Michael said.

“She has a big circle of friends, and I’ve met the lot, and they all think I’m wonderful.

“I think they’re just pleased that Lulu has found something.”

Despite insistence from his friends after his wife passed away in 2018, Michael said he “never went looking for love”, wasn’t interested in being set up on dates or trying to forge a romance.

“But,” he said, “now we’ve found each other.”

“(Love) just fell across both of us. We’re very alike, we’ve got the same sense of humour, and we just get on really well.”

Michael and Lulu have been on “quite a few holidays together”, too, including a big trip to Australia last year, which Michael planned to meet up with his brother, who moved there when Michael was 15 as a Ten Pound Pom, and who he hadn’t seen for some 60 years. As it turned out, Lulu had family in Australia too, so the couple flew across the world together for the trip of a lifetime.

This week, they are gearing up for their Valentine’s celebrations on Saturday February 14, at a “nice restaurant” nearby after spending time with Michael’s grandchildren.

“Cost me three arms and three legs!” he joked of the fancy meal he’s planning for Lulu.

Really, though, Michael can’t believe his luck at having found love again in his 70s.

“I’ve never been so happy as I am now,” he said.

Chris Powell, COO at Pegasus Homes, said: “Michael and Lulu’s story is a testament to the social and active lifestyles at communities like Highfields. We’re nothing short of thrilled to see them continuing to live their best lives.”

To find out more about later living at Highfields and other communities, visit PegasusHomes.co.uk