70 years together - Edith and Alan

A table for 28 was set up for guests and Edith, 92, and Alan, 94, at its head.

The couple met in 1937 on a hike having been invited by a mutual friend.

They were instantly attracted to each other and there followed a two year courtship, and marriage at their local church in Erith, Kent.

Alan had been in the choir for many years while Edith helped with the children's Sunday School.

Their honeymoon at Blackpool was delayed until September but while there the Second World War was declared.

Frances, the first of their four children, was born one year later and by this time Alan was serving in the Army, based in London.

He witnessed first-hand the horrors of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain. Edith had gone to the relative safety of Barmouth, North Wales, for the birth.

Janet, their second child, was born in 1942 and Paul in 1945.

Alan was demobbed one year later and then they were able to settle into married life together.

1952 saw the birth of their final child, Marie.

Alan and Edith are now proud parents of four children, five grandchildren, and five greatgrandchildren.

They moved to Bexhill in 1979 and had a bungalow in Highlands Close for ten years, followed by their present home which is a flat on West Parade.

When asked to what they owe their long and happy life together, they replied "give and take", "compromise", "good food" and also joked "because we are both deaf."