Happy couple toast 75 years of marriage

The year sweethearts Sid and Dorothy Rollason tied the knot, the 999 emergency telephone number was introduced and the first issue of children's comic The Dandy, including the character Desperate Dan, was published. And while a lot has changed since October 1937, the happy Bilston couple today told how their love is as strong as ever.

Sid, aged 96, and Dorothy, 94, met during a night out in Bilston when they were aged 19 and 17 respectively. Sid said: "We had been out in Bilston and we were walking home at the end of the night.

"She was speaking to some chaps that were with me. We got talking and I offered to walk her home and she said yes."

Sid, born and bred in Bilston, said he was instantly taken by the beauty of his future wife, who at the time lived in Ettingshall.

The pair married two years later on October 16 at Holy Trinity Church in Bilston. However, like many couples at that time, they were soon to be separated.

Sid was sent away for an agonising four-and-a-half years during the war.

During his time as a sergeant with the 1st King's Dragoon Guards, Sid was involved in the Siege of Tobruk, the confrontation between German and Allied forces in the North African campaign of the Second World War.

He said: "I didn't see Dorothy for six years when I was away. I was abroad for most of that time but then came back to England and I was away from home.

"It was hard being apart for so long."

After the war Sid began work in the sheet metal industry at well-known firms including Sankeys. The couple had three children, Allen, now 69, Sid, now 58, and Yvonne, who died at the age of 61. They have five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

The couple are celebrating their milestone with a family gathering today.

Sid added: "I never thought I would reach 75 years of marriage but it seems to have gone very quickly.

"The key to that is that we're so happy I suppose.

"We still like spending time together."