Moving love story as smitten North Staffordshire pensioners tie the knot after whirlwind romance

A North Staffordshire widower has found love again – after falling for a lady he met through selling the Salvation Army weekly magazine.

Ernie Salt, of Leek, has been selling the War Cry in the town on Wednesday and Saturday mornings for more than 20 years and has attended the Salvation Army church since 1989.

The 81-year-old got to know his second wife Jenny when she started buying the magazine after moving back to Leek from Hull, where she had lived for 25 years, in 2021.

Jenny, 74, invited unsuspecting Ernie for a coffee and the rest is history, with romance blossoming between the pair in May last year. They got engaged in August 2022 and married in April this year.

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Church-going Jenny, who moved back to Leek to be closer to her son and grandchildren, said her prayers were answered when she married Ernie.

She said: “We met through the War Cry and then I invited him for a cup of coffee and the rest is history, so they say. But I had liked Ernie for a while and one night, when I went to bed I said to God, ‘can I have Ernie please as I quite like him?’.

“The next thing is, I don’t know how, but we ended up getting married. That was one prayer that was answered. I got buy one get one free, because I got to know Ernie’s son Keith and he got on well with me.

“And we are now quite a nice little family, so that’s good. I moved back because I had family here, my son and his children, and then I met Ernie. I was definitely back here in Leek for a reason. We can look after each other now.”

Ernie said he hadn’t realised love was around the corner when he started talking to Jenny. He said: “She used to come up Derby Street and I had no idea I was on the radar at all, not the foggiest. She used to donate regularly and I used to think, ‘oh that was generous, thank you very much’ – little suspecting anything.”

The newlyweds are members of different churches, but often attend together as well. They married at the Salvation Army with a blessing from the minister of Jenny’s church, All Saint’s, and will be jetting off to Greece together in the autumn for Jenny’s first ever foreign holiday.

Jenny said: “My Church of England service finishes at 10.30am and his starts at 11am, so I do a quick wash-up and get down here for the Sally Army service, so I get best of both worlds. I’m able to sit in the service and enjoy it.

“Ernie comes to support me and I support him. We do separate churches but together as well. We had the most amazing wedding at the Salvation Army, with a blessing from the minister at my church at the same time. We both have a lot in common, although I’m still getting use to my new name.”

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