When Eyal Gold agreed to sponsor the Bushey challah make for the 2019 ShabbatUK, he had no idea it would be a recipe for love.

For the event led the owner of the Flax’s Foods kosher outlet in Bushey to meet Carolyn, the “incredible” woman who is now his wife.

Mr Gold, 56, recalled that the challah make had been a great success: “People were enjoying it and talking to each other. It was really nice.”

A few weeks afterwards, a friend from shul approached him and asked if he was single. He replied: “Yes. Why?

“This guy told me someone at the challah make had been asking about me and that they were interested in me. So I said: ‘OK, show me a picture’.”

He instantly recognised Carolyn, a primary school teacher, “not because we had spoken or anything but because she stood out”.

Soon afterwards, he plucked up the courage to message her on Facebook.

“We started talking, went on our first date a week later and have been together ever since.”

Mr Gold and Carolyn, 47, married in February, having had to postpone their big day from December when the groom contracted Covid.

“I caught it on the Friday before the wedding. It was really bad timing. Everything was organised and ready. It was really deflating.”

But the belated wedding was “the best party. It was wonderful,” Mr Gold told the JC.

“It felt so surreal because we had everything planned from before so it was really smooth running and we didn’t have to do much.”

The couple, who live in Edgware, have five children between them from previous relationships and Mr Gold said it had been great blending their families together.

“Carolyn is an amazing woman, she really is. I’m very happy. It is not something I was looking for and I didn’t expect it to happen, but it did.”

The couple were back for this year’s challah make and Mr Gold hopes ShabbatUK can bring other singles together: “Bake carefully and look around.”