"I WAS walking down the street, he caught up with me and said, 'do you know war has been declared?' and I said 'no' and he ended up walking me home," recalls Winifred Valentine, 90.
Now, more than 75 years later, she and her beloved husband Albert, 93, are still side-by-side.
Five years after that chance encounter, the couple got married in Hatfield Peverel church on May 20, 1944, when Albert got special permission for two days' leave from the RAF to travel to his home village for the ceremony.
"Our happiest moments in the house were having the two children Pauline and Linda," said Winifred.
"We've stayed together so long because you give and take, we share everything and we don't argue very often. Albert says I'm the boss indoors and he's the boss in the garden."
When war broke out, Albert volunteered for duty and was posted to Scotland with the RAF to drive an ambulance, helping civilians and frontline soldiers.
"I volunteered after seeing all those soldiers coming back from Dunkirk, after seeing that I felt I just had to go and help," said Albert, who played the drums in a Salvation Army band, of which Winifred was also a member.
Later he helped evacuate concentration camps in Germany such as Bergen-Belsen, once it had been liberated by the British forces in April 1945.
"I saw a huge trench dug into the ground in the shape of a cross filled with over 4,000 bodies. It did affect me afterwards, but I got over it," said Albert.
He's most proud of his photographs taken on his travels around towns such as Hamburg and Dresden and of the Spitfires and Hurricanes in Scotland.
While Albert was witnessing the horrors of war, Win, as friends and family know her, was based at Crompton's lighting factory in Chelmsford, making aircraft parts.
After the war both lived in council houses around the corner from each other in Hatfield Peverel, until in 1946 they could afford a house together in Station Road, where they still live to this day.
Albert continued driving, delivering bread and cakes for Louie Cleave's Bakery in the town, then when Mr Cleave retired he gave the shop to Albert, which the couple ran for 16 years until Albert retired aged 62.
They had two daughters, Pauline and Linda, and have four grandchildren; Andrew, Jason, Nicola and Shaun, plus three great-grandchildren; George, Oliver and Sam.
"I've never been out of work, never smoked or drank, I stay active, eat and drink well, and I've still got a clean driving licence," added Mr Valentine.
Albert has a love of cars and says he has owned hundreds over years, mainly Fords including Cortinas and an XR3, his favourite being his current Citroen.
He used to make bird tables and garden boxes and still manages to get out into the garden, often giving neighbours hanging baskets and visiting the elderly.
The Valentines often watch sports together, usually at Win's request for darts, snooker and boxing. The couple, who put their longevity down to lots of fruit and vegetables, decided against having a party for their platinum anniversary, as they had done on their 50th milestone.
Instead, the couple were visited by Albert's brother Fred, and his wife Mary, who have been married for 67 years, along with the Valentine's daughter Pauline and her husband David Carter, who have been married for 47 years.
Pauline Carter, 67, of Battlesbridge, added: "My dad stays out in the garden working until 5pm. My parents still get up early. They come from a different world to what most people know now."
