Louise Goodridge went to Butlin’s with her pal, only for that friendship trip to end with a blazing row. A sad direction for the holiday to go in, but one that would lead Louise to love
Louise and Gary Goodbridge fell in love at Butlin’s(Image: @PressBoxPR)
The Amalfi Coast. Paris. Venice. Butlin’s.
It’s at the last of these romantic places that Louise Goodridge met the love of her life.
The now 59-year-old went to the resort with her pal, only for that friendship trip to end with a blazing row. A sad direction for the holiday to go in, but one that would lead Louise to love.
Louise decided to head to the Minehead holiday camp through Gingerbread, which organises activities for single parents, including short breaks.
“I’d originally gone down with a friend and I hadn’t noticed him at first!” Louise said of the man who would soon take her breath away.
“It’s a really stupid story, but I had an argument over a loaf of bread with my friend. She ended up leaving me at Butlins and drove off in her car. I’d given her fuel money and everything.”
In the wake of the fallout, Louise was looking for someone to give her a lift to her home in Watford. Enter Gary, who, as luck would have it, lived ten miles away in Amersham.
“So I got left alone, with no way of getting back to Watford, which is where I was living. I had to go to the group and say, ‘Do you think anyone could give me a lift back?’ And that’s when Gary volunteered to drive me. He invited me out afterwards for a cup of tea and a piece of cake whilst we were on this trip out,” Louise explained.
“We’ve not been separated since that day.”
For the single mum, it wasn’t Gary’s appearance that initially won her over.
“I can’t say I really liked the look of him, but I liked his personality! I’m an honest person. He was funny, and we had a lot in common, so we had lots to talk about,” she said.
Louise knew she really liked Gary after their first date, on which they’d spent an entire night not doing anything other than talking and then singing through the Simon and Garfunkel catalogue. Just a handful of weeks later and they were living together.
“This year we will have been together for 34 years and we got married on our first anniversary of meeting. So we met on the 24 October 1991, and we got married on the 24 October 1992,” Louise added.
While the couple were sure of one another, others close to them weren’t so convinced.
“My mum wasn’t a huge fan of Gary. He was 10 years older. I was only 25 then, so I was 25 years old and he was 34. My grandparents also didn’t like him either. My friends were alright about it. Gary’s family were much more tolerant than mine,” Louise said.
Gary has a quicker summary of their romance.
“Well, it was a case of, ‘Oh, she looks alright.’ She looked slightly rattled on the day and I then invited her out for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. And that was it,” he said.
As to why she chose Butlin’s, Louise said: “It was cheap, and as a single parent on benefits, there’s no way I could have afforded to go on a big holiday. It was a no brainer really.”