A SHREWTON couple have celebrated 70 years of marriage after meeting in the village during the war.

Helen Brown took up a post in Shrewton in 1939 and met Gordon Cruse, who was running the local paper shop.

The couple soon became partners at the village dances and married in 1943 before Mr Cruse, who was 19, had to leave for service in North Africa and then the Italian campaign.

They had just three days to organise their wedding, with Mrs Cruse borrowing a wedding dress from a friend. They got married on March 27 at St John’s Church, Bemerton and had a few days’ honeymoon in Bournemouth before the war separated them for two and a half years.

They moved back to Shrewton in 1954 and had four children – Sarah, Stephanie, Trevor and Timothy.

The couple, now in their 90s, recently hosted a party to celebrate their anniversary with a party at Shrewton Village Hall for nearly 100 relatives, friends and neighbours.

Singer Jill Daniels travelled from Leicester to entertain the crowd with songs popular in the war years, including the Anniversary Waltz.

Guests raised £420 in donations for Cancer Research UK.