Love is in the air for 70th anniversary!

Dennis and Patricia Paul celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary on Wednesday (February 13), the day before Saint Valentine’s Day.

Patricia, 90, said: “We aren’t going to do anything to celebrate – we just want to be together.

“We’ve got a big party coming up in March with my cousin’s 90th and we will all be together then. They are the same people that were at our wedding.”

The couple spent the day with their close family.

The pair live in Birch Close in Broom, having moved to the village 18 years ago.

They were introduced through one of Patricia’s schoolfriends whose boyfriend was in the Rover Scouts alongside Dennis.

The Rover Scouts, now discontinued, were made up of young men who were too old for the standard scouts.

The couple were married in Ascension Church in Lavendar Hill, Battersea during the Second World War.

Dennis, 91, regularly attended Ascension Church as he lived close by.

Most of the couple’s friends also lived nearby.

Dennis was in the RAF working as a fitter. He was stationed around the country and even in Scotland at one point.

He was not able to fly planes in the RAF as his eyesight was not good enough.

He was expecting to be sent abroad and they wanted to marry before he went.

Patricia joined him at his posting in Scotland before he was sent overseas.

She worked in the Ministry of Information during the war. Prior to this she worked for the Red Cross.

Patricia said: “The wedding was absolutely lovely.

Lots of people came; a lot of our friends were in the services anyway.”

The day was freezing cold, however.

Dennis said: “When we were married I was almost 22 and Pat was 21.

“We were quite young and very much in love.”

The Pauls have two children, Wendy, who was born during the war, and Michael, who arrived in 1958.

They also have three grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.