A COUPLE who married six weeks after they first laid eyes on each other are celebrating 70 years of wedded bliss.

Ray and Marie Tait, both 91, were surrounded by their family, friends and mayor Andrew Bennett as they marked their platinum wedding anniversary with a party at their home in Epworth Court, Old Town.

As the the great-grandparents were ushered to take centre stage, while Paul Heath sang, they joked the only time they had ever got into an argument was when they danced together but this was not the case yesterday, as they were all smiles.

The pair met when they were aged 20 after Ray was docked in Cape Town with the Fleet Air Arm during the war, while his ship came in for a refit.

With his fellow sailors they went to a holiday park for the weekend and it was there he met Marie.

“He had red hair and I was partial to red hair,” said Marie, a retired secretary.

“I had a standing joke with a friend of mine, because she had met a red haired sailor and arranged to meet him at the holiday park. When I saw Ray and some other sailors I said ‘Is that your red-headed sailor?’ She said ‘No,’ so I said ‘well I’ll have him then.’

“We had only known each other about six weeks and then they were going to Japan to fight the Japanese and then they dropped the atom bomb, so they were sent back to England.

“We wanted to get married then but my mother nearly had a heart attack because we had only known each other six weeks.

“Ray went back to England and I put my name down to get a passage over, because you had to go in a queue and there were thousands of girl waiting to come to England. I put my name down and weeks later I got a passage over and we got married.

“It was different in wartime and there was that sense of urgency with everybody and you took what you could and you didn’t wait.”

After the pair tied the knot at a Methodist Church in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, they lived in the village with Ray’s parents for 18 months before going back to Marie’s hometown in South Africa for 50 years. They moved back to England 18 years ago.

They had their first child Barry in 1949, followed by Beverley a year later and then Alan in 1957. They also have five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

“We are very lucky that we have lived so long,” Marie added.

“When we got married in 1946 that was it. Nowadays it's so easy for people to separate and divorce. Back then it was a dirty word and you didn’t even mention it.

“I also wanted to prove to my mother it would last because she said it wouldn’t and I wish she could see us today."