LOVE was certainly in the air for Peter and Glenys Hackett when they married on Valentine’s Day 67 years ago.

The couple, who have seven children, 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, celebrated their remarkable marriage at the Gibraltar Nursing Home in Monmouth, where they have lived together for the last two years.

They first met 71 years ago in 1949 at a young person’s Bible school at Emmanuel Church in Northwood, London, and got engaged in 1951.

Glenys said of her future husband’s proposal: “It was at home, and I said ‘yes’ immediately.”

But they had to wait until 1953 to tie the knot as Peter was a lecturer in African languages and had to spend a year in Nigeria writing a book about local dialects.

When he returned, they married on February 14, 1953, at the church where their love story first began, with Glenys recalling: “It was raining!”

In 1958, Peter swapped his career as a language teacher to follow his vocation and become a vicar, moving on to work in parishes in the Midlands and the south-west over the next 40 years, including at Hereford Cathedral as Vicar Choral in the 1970s, plus Birmingham and Gloucestershire.

Glenys became a teacher for 11 years, and later tutored children individually and assisted at primary schools.

They had two children of their own and adopted five others, and asked whether it was a noisy household bringing up seven children, Glenys smiled and said: “Not at all, the children were always very well behaved, on the whole.”

Daughter Ginny confirmed: “Misbehaving children would not have reflected well on any vicarage family.”

Glenys said that when they wed, they hoped: “To stay married. And we hope to continue staying married for much longer.

“The most important thing is to feel loved,” she added.

Ginny added that after Glenys’ retirement from teaching, Peter made her breakfast in bed every day without fail, while sneaking in a quick read of the paper.

With a chuckle and referring to marriage in general, Peter joked: “Don’t do it, don’t do it.”

The couple share a double room and an independent lounge at Gibraltar House, surrounded by photos of themselves and their children.