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A couple who divorced 18 years ago are re-marrying four decades on, after realising they made a mistake splitting-up in the first place.

The loved-up pair announced their new wedding plans to their delighted family over Christmas dinner .

“It’s amazing, everyone is so happy for us,” said Julie Rose, 60, who first met Bob O’Sullivan, 66, at her local ice rink in Bristol, when she was just 17 and a talented skater, while he was the venue’s catering manager.

Bob, then 23, wooed her with the cheeky chat-up line: ‘Would you think yourself lucky to go out with me?’

She clearly did - going on to accept his proposal, made in a Bristol nightclub in early 1979.

Julie, who married Bob that November in a church wedding, before honeymooning in the Cotswolds village of Moreton-in-Marsh, reflected: “It was a small, but lovely wedding.

“My sister, Lynda, now 58, was my bridesmaid and I wore a white dress.

“Walking down the aisle, a big smile on my face, I never thought we’d divorce. I thought I’d found my happily-ever-after.”

(Image: PA Real Life - Julie Rose - divorce)

Children soon followed. First was Lee, who died, tragically, in 2007, aged just 26, then Richard, now 34, and Samantha, now 31.

Buying their first home, where Julie still lives, in Bristol, in 1982, the couple were blissfully happy.

As the 1990s dawned, Julie became a delivery driver, while Bob was a long-distance coach driver, often going abroad.

Julie recalled: “As a young mum, it was hectic, but the kids were wonderful and we were so, so happy.”

Sadly, however, the couple gradually drifted apart.

“In 1998, we realised things weren’t right. We weren’t a partnership anymore. We were effectively strangers in a marriage,” she confessed.

“Our divorce was as amiable as divorce can be.

“There were no cross words, or flung plates, just a realisation that we were no longer a team.”

Despite their differences, the children remained close to both parents, so while they rarely spoke, each knew how the other was doing.

(Image: PA Real Life)

Single again, in 2004, Julie met Dave* at work, starting as friends, but becoming an item that summer.

She said: “We were happy and I loved him. He proposed to me by text a year after we met. I said yes and in September 2006 we married at a Bristol register office in front of family and friends.”

Meanwhile, in September 2000 Bob met Sue, at a hotel in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and they fell in love and married in October 2001 in a church in Gloucester, where she was from.

“By 2007, divorced for eight years, we’d both moved on,” said Julie.

But, in January 2007, Julie and Bob were reunited by a family tragedy.

“My son Lee was 26,” recalled Julie, her voice breaking. “He came to see me one day and told me he felt ill.

“On December 28, 2006, he had flu-like symptoms, but they got worse.”

Bedbound and shivering, Julie knew her son’s condition was serious, driving him to Bristol Royal Infirmary on New Year’s Day.

Tragically, the next day, he died from a blood clot on the lungs. There was no inquest and the exact cause of it has never been established.

“The bottom fell out of my world,” said Julie. “It was the worst thing that has ever happened to me.”

Putting past differences aside, Bob and Julie planned his funeral, on January 11, 2007, together – walking into the church in Bristol side-by-side.

(Image: Getty)

“There were gasps as we did this,” recalled Julie. “People couldn’t believe we were together, as previously we’d not really spoken.

“We’d been united by our love of Lee and our shared sadness.”

After that, they were far friendlier.

“Our relationship had thawed, and we had Lee to thank for that,” said Julie. “I got to know Sue. She was a lovely woman, so kind.

“She knew Bob and I were just friends. We were both married to other people. Nothing untoward had happened.”

Then, in November 2009, diagnosed with skin cancer on her face, Julie had a growth successfully removed at the hospital where Lee had died.

Fortunately, after that, her life became more positive.

In 2013, she walked office manager Samantha down the aisle when she married ferry driver David Radd, 40, in Sydney, Australia – taking Bob’s place, as he had never flown and was too nervous.

“I was mother of the bride,” she laughed.

A keen amateur wildlife photographer, she also bought an owl with her husband, Dave, calling it after the Egyptian goddess, Isis.

“I doted on Isis,” she recalled. “We all lived very happily together.”

But, in February 2017, Julie arrived home to find both Dave and the owl had gone.

“I don’t want to talk about it too much, but I was very, very sad,” she said.

With no chance of reconciliation, the couple began divorce proceedings.

Then, just a month later, on March 3, Bob had his own sad news to share.

“Sue died, aged 70, from lung problems,” said Julie. “We were all really sad. She was a wonderful woman and very loving and kind.”

Immediately, Julie thought back to one of the final things Sue had said to her, at a barbeque at her house, not long before her death.

She recalled: “It was a big family event at their house in Gloucestershire.

“She turned to me and said, ‘You will take care of him, won’t you?’ meaning Bob.

“At the time I didn’t think much of it…”

Both newly single, two months after their shared heartbreaks, Bob and Julie’s relationship turned full circle when, in May 2017, they went on their first date for around 40 years.

“Richard, my son, went to see his dad on a Sunday,” said Julie. “I came along and, there and then in the living room, we admitted how we felt.

“We had a big cuddle in the middle of the room and confessed we still loved each other.”

A couple once more, they easily slipped back into familiar ways.

Then, in October this year, they travelled by ferry to Amsterdam, Holland,

for a week’s break.

In the hotel room, Bob asked Julie to marry him, presenting her with a single sapphire and diamond and ring, similar to her original engagement ring which was also a sapphire.

Even though Julie had an inkling he would propose, she was still delighted.

“He didn’t get down on one knee – he’d still be down there now,” she giggled. “But in the hotel, he said he loved me and wanted to marry me.

“Our children were delighted when we told them.”

On Christmas Day, they broke the news of their impending nuptials to their extended family, including Sue’s children, now in their 40s.

Once Bob has sold his home in Gloucester, he will be moving back into the original marital home he bought with Julie in Bristol, back in 1982.

And their wedding is planned at Bristol registry office for September 2018.

A meeting is set to be held with the registry office in January.

“We’re so excited,” said Julie. “Samantha will be in Australia for the wedding, but Richard will be best man and my granddaughter Lilly, two, will be the flower girl.

“We can’t wait. Love the second time around is fantastic.”

Bob added: “I’m so happy how things have worked out.

“I think Sue would be happy for us too – she wouldn’t want be to be on my own.

“Julie and Sue became great friends over the years. Things worked out super.

“Everybody is over-the-moon.”