It's 70 years of love for the Reynolds

A simple gesture of kindness and chivalry on a freezing cold January day paved the way for 70 years of love and marriage for a South Staffordshire couple.

Nora and Robert Reynolds are celebrating their platinum wedding anniversary after meeting at a railway station in 1940.

Their love story began at Sutton Bridge railway station in January of that year as Mr Reynolds was starting his first leave from the RAF as a mechanic and his future wife was returning to Wisbech, near Kings Lynn in Norfolk.

Mrs Reynolds, a dress shop manager at the time and now aged 90, recalled: "It was a very cold January morning and my husband was in the waiting room by the fire and he got up offered me his seat and that was how it started.

"We met up again and it continued and we married on 3 April 1941."

The couple, of School Road in Wombourne, had to endure years apart, however, when Mr Reynolds was sent to work with the RAF overseas until 1946, when he came home.

During that time Mrs Roberts lived with her family in Lincolnshire, but when her husband returned to Wolverhampton, she moved and they lived in School Lane, Bushbury.

Mr Reynolds worked for the General Post Office and rose to become assistant head post master until he retired in 1981. His wife worked at Wombourne Post Office before she retired.

The couple have two sons Robert, aged 68, and Jeffrey, 64, as well as five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Mrs Reynolds said: "We are happy and we have each other's sense of humour. We have little arguments sometimes. I say I don't argue because I know I am right and he agrees."

Mr Reynolds said the secret to a happy marriage was "give and take, forbearance and love."

The couple were joined by family for a special meal at Worfield Golf Club near Bridgnorth to mark their anniversary.

On Sunday, the day of their anniversary, the couple went to St Benedict Biscop Church, Wombourne, for a service.

A the end they were presented with a bouquet, other gifts and a special letter of congratulations from the Bishop of Wolverhampton.