Ice rink couple enjoy 'second chance at happiness'

Phil and Juli have been together since 2012

Twenty-three years had passed since Phil and Juli's break-up when he appeared at her mum's funeral in 2012 to proclaim his love - and the pair are still enjoying their own happy ever after.

As much as it sounds like one, this is not the storyline from a Nora Ephron rom-com from the 1990s, set in suburban America and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

It is actually the true story of an Oxfordshire couple whose relationship started after a chance meeting at Oxford Ice Rink.

The rink celebrates its 40th birthday on Saturday and people have been sharing personal stories from their time on the ice to mark the occasion.

Oxford Ice Rink opened in 1984 after years of fundraising led by Canadian Mary Meagher.

It was the year of the miners' strikes, Liverpool were dominating English football and, perhaps most relevantly, 24 million people had tuned in to watch Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean win Olympic figure skating gold with their Bolero dance.

The pair first dated in the 1980s

Meanwhile, in Oxford, Juli Frances Taylor had just started working at the new ice rink, where she met Phil for the first time.

"In the spring of 1985 I was in the shop and the door opens, and this very large, blonde-haired broad man came in, and he sat down on this tiny little bench that we had in the shop and basically interrogated me," she says.

"He asked me all these questions. He was loud, he was very brash, he was sweary - I didn't take to him at all."

Later on that year, he reappeared "a little bit quieter" and Juli says she "warmed to him".

"We started dating and I fell head over heels in love - he was my first big romance," she says.

Four years later, in 1989, the couple went their separate ways, leaving Juli "heartbroken".

In the ensuing years, Juli had a daughter but never married, partly she says because "there was always a little bit of my heart that had a ribbon around it that said 'Phil'".

Twenty-three years after the pair broke up, Juli was "taken aback" when Phil appeared at her mum's funeral.

Oxford Ice Rink opened 40 years ago

Unbeknownst to Juli, Phil had remained in touch with her parents while the pair had been separated.

"He used to go to the house, he used to go out for dinner with them, he'd meet them for drinks, he was still part of the family - the only problem was they never told me," she says.

It was that day in 2012 when Phil revealed to Juli he was still in love with her after all of those years. They have been together ever since.

The couple now have the bench they first met on at home

"Life goes round in circles and our story is a perfect example of that," says Juli. "We had a second chance at happiness, and, oh boy, did we grab it!"

To mark that first ever meeting at Oxford Ice Rink, Phil tracked down the "tiny little" bench the pair first met on.

"He salvaged it and brought it home, and now in our house we have a little bit of our origin story, Juli says.

Juli and Phil's story is just one of many Oxford Ice Rink has played a small part in over the last 40 years.

To celebrate its anniversary, the rink is hosting a show on Saturday celebrating music from the 1980s and featuring the city’s finest skating talent.