A COUPLE from Okehampton have celebrated 65 years of marriage together, after receiving another congratulations card from the Queen.

Harold and Doris Bradley, who met on the Isle of Wight, married on April, 8 1944 at Carisbrooke Church on the island, after sharing a dance in the barracks.

Harold, who was born in Belstone, went to Okehampton School where he joined a band with the legendary Jimmy Gale, who taught him to play the trumpet.

He left school at 14 and learned his trade as a plumber. At the age of 19, Harold joined the Army and was stationed on the Isle of Wight where Doris was born.

Harold, 86, said: 'I didn't have a choice when I joined the Army, back then you just got on with it.

'It was during an evening at the barracks that Doris asked me to dance and that was that really.

'We got married a few weeks before D-Day and I managed to get three or four days' leave, so we came back to Devon for a weekend.

'On the Monday I had to go back to North London to prepare for D- Day.'

'After we were married, I didn't see Doris again for a year or more because I was in France, in Normandy and then Berlin.

'I came home on sick leave for a few days and then I didn't see her again for a very long time.

'Eventually, we started having more leave and every so often, I could come home to Doris.

Doris, who is registered blind, is now a resident at Kent House Residential Home in Okehampton.

The 88-year-old worked in the aircraft factory in the Isle of Wight while Harold was posted away.

In the winter of 1946, Harold left the Army and returned to Okehampton to continue his trade as a plumber.

'When I came out of the Army, Doris came home with me and we lived with my mother for a while.

'We managed to get a council house in 1952 in South Zeal and then we moved to a farmhouse in South Tawton until I had saved enough money for our own house.'

Harold, who visits Doris every day, said he thinks teamwork is the key to a successful marriage. 'We are still very much in love. In those days, you made your vows and you stuck to them.

'We're all right. You have your ups and downs but you work together.'