A COUPLE who met over a game of darts in the pub are today celebrating 65 years of marriage.

Frank and Kathleen Jordison, of Dibden Purlieu, will be reunited with one of the bridesmaids who attended their wartime wedding.

They will mark the day with close family.

The couple met in 1940, at a pub in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

Frank, now 88, had moved from Ireland to stay with his sister and her husband.

He said: "I used to go to the pub with them. They had a tournament with couples playing darts.

"They said would anyone like to accompany this lady. I said: I would'. And we've been together ever since"

The couple were married within 18 months in a church ceremony, although friends had to pool clothes coupons to buy Kathleen's dress under war rationing and their cake had scant icing.

Frank was called up to the RAF and was later posted to Calshot, where he worked in air sea rescue.

"We only had a seaplane tender but I remember it as a lovely little place," he said.

"It's changed quite a bit. The railway has gone and the sergeant's mess has been pulled down."

After Frank left the RAF, the couple settled down to start a family in Walton-on-Thames. Frank worked as a motor mechanic while Kathleen was a hairdresser.

The couple moved to Dibden Purlieu three years ago to be near to their daughter Imelda. They also have a son, three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

"It doesn't feel like 65 years," said Frank.

Kathleen, 94, added: "We've had a lovely marriage and life has been fun. We've never had a cross word."