WARTIME London was the backdrop for the beginning of a union that has lasted 70 years.

After talking to the young Hope Morgan for the first time at a wedding, Fred Messenger declared to his friends that he had met the girl he was going to marry - and on June 21 1942 he did!

Last Thursday, the couple, who are both in their 90s, celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary with family and friends at Eastleigh Care Home in Minehead.

Hope spent the war years working in a telephone exchange, putting through vital calls even as the bombs were falling, while Fred carried her cherished photo in the pocket of his Army tunic.

On holiday after the war, Hope and Fred fell in love again, this time with Somerset, and when the opportunity arose they turned their backs on the city and jumped straight into rural life in a cottage in the isolated hamlet of Culbone.

Fred initially worked as a carpenter for the Earl of Lytton then he and Hope ran Lord Lytton's country club in the now demolished Ashley Coombe House in the woods above Porlock Weir.

In the 1950s, the couple moved to Cutcombe where they played a major role in the life of the village for over 40 years.

Fred was a postman delivering all over Exmoor then returned to carpentry and building work, while Hope was the school cook at Wheddon Cross for many years.

Between them they were involved in just about every aspect of village life from the WI to the friendship club and amateur dramatics, before they moved to Porlock in 2004.

Photo: Steve Guscott