Sylvia and Les Thorn of The Ridings were married on December 24 1937 in Romford, having met at the cycling club to which they both belonged.


Sylvia recalled that Les had two special things going for him - he had a bike she really liked, and he saved her from the amorous advances of someone she really didn't like!




With just £100 between them they set up home in a flat over a shop in Essex, a county in which they spent all their working lives.


Les was an insurance clerk, working for various companies, and Sylvia worked at home as a dressmaker. However, she also worked in a care home for people with learning difficulties and as a welfare assistant in a primary school. She has also been a member of the St John's Ambulance and an Akela in a cub scout pack.


When they retired they moved to Lincolnshire, a county where Sylvia had spent many happy holidays as a teenager, and have lived in The Ridings in Market Rasen for 20 years.


Unfortunately, Les, who is a registered blind, has had to move to Waterloo House, but they were joined by their family - son, three grandchildren and nine great grandchildren - for a celebratory lunch at Tealby.


"We trust each other," was Sylvia's answer to how they had kept their long marriage going. "We are friends and although we have had tiffs, we never held anything against each other."