Former classmates Matt Bascombe and Rae-Sarah Weedon fell for each other at school - but they didn't get married until they were reunited 23 years later. They tell their story to NADINE BATEMAN

YOU never forget your first love - it's a feeling of intensity that is matched only by its innocence. For many of us, the deliciously wistful memory of the first time we ever held hands and kissed that special person will linger forever and be preserved in a little box marked 'nostalgia'.

As the years pass most of us will fall in love again, possibly more than once, and the memory will gradually fade. But for some it never does.

That was the case for two teenage sweethearts who first fell for each other when they were pupils at Hounsdown secondary school in Totton, and who have recently met and married after not clapping eyes on each other for 23 years.

Classmates Matt Bascombe and Rae-Sarah Weedon, who live in Winchester, were 14-years-old when each thought the other "far too good for me".

"He was lovely, the nicest person I knew," says Rae.

"I had Rae completely on a pedestal and wondered why she was going out with me," echoes Matt.

"It was intense for six months and we used to sit next to each other in class. I was besotted with her," he says.

"We had a special bond even then," continues Rae.

But the couple split up when each went on to study different O' level subjects and later to separate colleges for their A' levels - Rae to Brockenhurst College and Matt to Totton College.

"When we finished the relationship it was a natural conclusion rather than a trauma," says Rae.

"We did actually get back together briefly for a romantic weekend when we were 16, and we both felt there was something special between us, but we couldn't articulate our feelings. I suppose we were just too young," reasons Rae.

Rae, 38, worked for a while for the gas board and then married three times and had four children - Hannah, 18, Thomas, 15, Chloe, 10, and Megan, six. Matt, 37, a senior manager in recruitment, married in 1989 and divorced seven years later. He has two children, Joshua, 11, and five-year-old Jessica.

Despite the couple living just a few miles apart (for five years Matt passed Rae's front door on his journey to work), they didn't even bump into each other during the two decades they lived separate lives.

"We didn't have mutual friends any more, so I didn't know what he was doing or where he was living," says Rae.

Then came friendsreunited.

The popular website that was set up to help old school pals get in touch again acted as Cupid for Rae and Matt - with a little help from Rae's brother, Neil.

"He saw the site and phoned me up to read the names from our school," says Rae.

"When he said Matt's name, I thought, 'Oh my God!' It really was like a ton of bricks hitting me. It was an incredibly strong feeling. I had an impulse to contact him," she says.

Matt responded to Rae's e-mail and that was the start of a relationship that was even more intense than the first time around.

"It was exhilarating, but terrifying, too," admits Rae.

"I had been on my own for three years after a traumatic time and I had suffered depression and ME. The last thing I was looking for was another relationship."

The couple corresponded by e-mail for a while and eventually Rae plucked up the courage to phone Matt. They spoke for over five and a quarter hours.

"We didn't say anything really profound, we just chatted and laughed. It was like speaking to somebody I had spoken to every day. It was very odd."

Within a month the couple had moved in together. Within two months they were married.

Rae said: "We agreed a date for the wedding in February of this year, but one day last September, we were taking the children to London Zoo and we both looked at each other and said: 'I can't wait that long,' so we brought the date forward four months.

"Although I don't regret the years we spent apart, if we are away from each other for a day it feels like we're adding to all the time we've wasted," says Rae.

Rae and Matt had a quiet ceremony at Winchester register office in October and a big family celebration at their house a few weeks later.

"Our friends and families, especially the children, are happy for us," says Rae.

"Rae is, for me, completely perfect," says Matt.

"Quite simply, we both feel as though we have come home."