They met at the gym at 88 and fell in love

Barbara Thompson and Fred Jenkins both expected to spend their last years alone. They were both widowed, both 88, and both living at the Oscott Retirement Village in Birmingham. Then they met at the gym. Fred, a former Army PT instructor whose wife died three years ago, began coaching Barbara and a friend during a workout session. The friend stopped coming. Barbara kept showing up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. "We laughed a lot and we joked a lot and I started looking forward to going to the gym," said Barbara, who turned 89 last week. The pair now spend nearly every day together, lifting weights three times a week and dancing whenever music comes on. They recently took their first holiday as a couple. They have no plans to marry or move in together, keeping their own apartments instead. "When my wife passed away, I just thought that that's the end of the world now," Fred said. It was not.