A couple who only got married by chance have just celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary.  

John and Frances Vickers celebrated 70 years of marital bliss with a party attended by guests, residents and staff at Tremona Care Home in Alexandra Road.

They danced like they did on their wedding day as they were entertained by singer and musician Michael Shakespeare.

The story of how John and Frances came together started before the outbreak of World War Two, when their respective families knew each other.

During the war, John served as a Royal Air Force navigator in Canada before being sent to Nassau in the Bahamas to convert warplanes.

The former Watford Grammar School for Boys pupil was then given the option to go straight to India or return to the UK before being sent out there.

He chose to go straight to India but, to his disappointment, was asked to head back to the UK first.

There he met up with Frances again, who was working as a computer operator at the time.

Frances’ fiancé had been killed in the war some months before but she and John struck up a friendship and when John was eventually transferred to India the two kept in touch.

Their relationship soon blossomed into a long-distance romance and they got engaged when John returned to the UK.

The happy couple thanked all who attended their anniversary party and the staff at Tremona for making it such a “memorable day”.