At this time of year, much is made of the idea of young love.

But 86-year-old Joan Brown has proved that you are never too old to find 'the one' as she sealed her engagement to her partner John King, 87, with a romantic meal at Carlton Manor on Valentine's Day.

The Lowestoft pair have each been married before, with Mr King married for 55 years and Mrs Brown getting hitched at the town's St Margaret's Church when she was 17.

However the couple – who have known each other on and off over the years, as they both spent the majority of their working lives at the town's Birds Eye factory, in Whapload Road – have grown closer in older age, as they shared lunchtimes together in Morrisons after their respective partners died.

They became an item in May of last year and it was Mrs Brown who decided to pop the question to her partner in December.

'We were in The Wherry Restaurant and I said to him that I would feel as if I meant more to him if I had a ring on my finger,' she said.

'I didn't go down on one knee or anything, I just whispered into his ear. I am really glad that I asked him and he said straight away that he would get me a ring,' Mrs Brown added.

Grandfather-of-two Mr King – who was born in Grimsby but has lived in Lowestoft since 1931 – arrived in the town with his parents and brother to begin his career as an apprentice at LBS Engineering before moving onto work at Birds Eye, where Mrs Brown was employed for all of her working life. He retired aged 61.

He described how the couple have known each other for a long time and how his new fiance is 'always happy'.

'We have known each other on and off for years,' said Mr King, of Oulton Road. 'When her husband died and my wife had died, we used to go down to Morrisons and have lunch together.

'We like to go out for meals and try different places, so we might as well be together all the while now.'

Mrs Brown, of Haven Avenue – who has two daughters aged 63 and 62, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren – said she believed that 'love is wasted on the young' as she has become engaged nearly 70 years after her first marriage.

'We are happy little bunnies at the moment,' she said. We are enjoying our engagement and each others company.

'I am sure we will enjoy the rest of our lives together and we are hoping to still be here until we are both aged 120.

'You never know how long you have got left so I would tell people of our age to enjoy every minute,' she added.

'Me and Jack are happy together now, everybody asks when we are getting married and I tell them I haven't thought about it. My friends also told me to bring Jack to meet them so they can tell him what he is letting himself in for.'

Are you celebrating a special event? Email joe.randlesome@archant.co.uk