Bury salon owner marries high school sweetheart after 40 years

Kay and Paul Oakley, both aged 52, have got married after first meeting each other at school.

Kay, the owner of Halo hairdressers in Ramsbottom, met her future husband aged 11 at Breightment High School in Bolton and began their relationship as each other’s first boyfriend and girlfriend.

Their relationship was immortalised in a way when Breightmet High went onto the TV show Cheggers Plays Pop in 1981, a programme hosted by Keith Chegwin.

Kay Oakley, Paul Oakley and other contestants in their re-make

This has since become a running joke on birthdays or anniversaries for ex-pupils who share clips and photos of their fellow pupils and contestants on the show, which is why when Kay and Paul married, they had to re-make the iconic photo.

Although 11-year-old Kay and Paul on Cheggers were immortalised, their relationship wasn’t, as it officially started and ended in their first year of high school.  

Neither of them had given much thought to this past together, until six years ago.

Kay, who had been living in Tottington, said: “I had just moved back to Bolton and me and some old school friends had gone on a night out together.

“This was the same time Paul, and his mates went out as well.

"We randomly bumped into each other and…well the rest is history.”

Once they had finished high school, both moved out of Bolton and never saw each other again.

They started their own separate lives with Paul living in Bowness and Kay moving to Bury, opening her hairdressers in Ramsbottom.

Since rekindling their love more than 40 years on, the pair have been inseparable and have now become husband and wife.

Kay Oakley and Paul Oakley

She said: “It made it easier because we already knew each other. I already knew his family and he knew mine.

“It is a bit weird when you think about it, Paul says it is like a fairy tale.

“When we told our friends from high school that we were getting married no-one was really surprised and I’m not sure why, I think it is because of how compatible we are.”

After 40 years, a wedding was planned for Bulgaria then postponed due to Covid.

Kay Oakley and Paul Oakley on their re-make of Cheggers Plays Pop

Kay said:” The wedding in Bulgaria was amazing, but we had to postpone a year due to Covid.

"Then we had worries due to the war in Ukraine and the problem with airlines at the moment.

“Despite that the wedding was fantastic I am so happy. Paul has one of the best and biggest hearts in the world.”

For their old friends who were unable to attend the wedding, on Saturday, July 30, they held a party in England with their own special rendition of Cheggers Plays Pop.