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As any bargain hunter will tell you, you never know what you’re going to find when you go op shopping, but there can’t be many people who have met their future partner while scouring for second-hand treasures.
However, that’s just what happened to Sue Moston of Warkworth when she popped in to the Harbour Hospice Garage Sale shop in Morrison Drive just over three years ago.
She and a friend were greeted at the door by long-term volunteer Steve Reid, who jokingly said to them, “If you’re looking for a man, they usually hang around in the electronics section.”
Despite reassuring him that, as a widow after 47 years of marriage, Sue was not looking for a man, divorcee Steve was instantly smitten.
“I’d never met a woman more stunning,” he said.
He managed to strike up a conversation with her, threw caution to the wind and asked her out for a coffee.
Sue admitted to being a little surprised.
“But then I thought ‘Why not? He seems a nice man’,” she said.
They met a few days later at a local café and from there romance blossomed, despite a few speed bumps to begin with, such as covid lockdowns and living in different ‘bubbles’.
“We used to meet at the park by the river and sit one metre apart. And gradually, we sat closer and closer,” Steve said.
Cut to last month, and Steve and Sue tied the knot at Mahurangi West Hall with a ceremony and reception that owed a lot to the op shop where they met.
Sue wore a preloved dress and their 60 guests ate and drank to the happy couple using glasses, cutlery and crockery, all bought from Harbour Hospice shops.
As well as Steve being a shop volunteer, hospice holds a special place in both their hearts. Sue cared for her late husband at home with the support of Harbour Hospice’s community nursing and family support team, and Steve witnessed hospice’s “extraordinary” care of a friend, which inspired him to volunteer 15 years ago.
The couple have set up home in Warkworth and intend being part of the Garage Sale shop community for many years to come, though Sue admits she’s not sure she’ll find quite such a special treasure as her husband again.
