A BRASS band, fantastic River Severn views and their best Sunday clothes set the scene for a romance that would last more than 70 years.

Allan and Catherine Drew of Cinderford married three years after they met. They are now celebrating their platinum 70 year wedding anniversary.

Catherine said: "We met on a Sunday night when we were out walking with the band playing. Whole families went out always in their best clothes on Sundays after tea in the evening.

"We got into conversation and then met up again. We didn't have a lot in common then, but we certainly do now!"

Catherine spent some time in service in Salisbury but lasted less than a year before she got too homesick and had to come home.

"I missed home too much – and him!" she said. "We wrote each other letters, but it wasn't the same."

On their wedding day, April 18, 1939, Catherine had her hair done and the couple arrived in style at St John's Church, Cinderford in a Rolls Royce. They had five bridesmaids. Catherine was still 16 and Allan was 20.

Allan said: "My brother-in-law came from London for the wedding. He was a chauffeur for a gentleman and took us to church in the Rolls. It was lovely because people just didn't do that sort of thing in those days."

Their wedding cake was made at Thomas the Bakery, one of the many thriving bakeries and smaller shops in Cinderford.

"Cinderford used to be a thriving little town and the heart of the Forest. I think there were five grocery shops in Market Street and they all did business. There was nowhere near the amount of people living in Cinderford as there are now," Catherine said.

The wedding reception was at home and although there was no honeymoon, the couple had a house of their own on Littledean Hill which they had furnished ready to move into on the wedding night.

Allan worked on the coal face in Eastern United Colliery and stayed there until 1947.

He got a tubercular knee joint and had to have his leg permanently straightened, so he moved to work as a foreman at Lister's engineering works in Cinderford until he retired 32 years later.

He is a life member of Cinderford Town Football Club and still keeps up with their progress. He was presented with a cup for 50 years service to the Club. Allan was always a keen gardener and won prizes for his flowers.

Allan was also the captain of the Kings Head darts team which won the league nearly every year – and once Catherine took his place while he was ill.

She said: "When his leg was bad and he was in hospital I took his place – we still won the cup!"

The devoted couple say building a life together takes a lot of perseverance and hard work, but the rewards are certainly worth it.

Catherine said: "We have had our ups and downs, the same as everyone else, but we stuck together and solved our problems.

"We were brought up to do that. If you made your vows then you kept them. There are times you think you aren't going to get through it, but we wouldn't be without one another!"

They have two daughters, Olive and Christine, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, the youngest of which is five year-old Ella.

In 2004 Allan and Catherine moved to live with Christine and her husband in Lydney.