Two couples are celebrating an amazing 70 years of marriage.

Dorothy and Charlie Crabb, of Clacton, met on a night out in the town when they were just teenagers.

At the time, she was working in the Grooms Orphanage, in Old Road, Clacton, and he was part of his father's roofing business.

They married in 1938, at Harwich Register Office, with just Dorothy's sister Queenie and Charlie's mother Ivy present.

"We couldn't afford a big wedding," said Dorothy, now 93, who lives with Charlie, in Rosemary Road.

After they married, the couple moved to Lake Walk, and had their first two children, Michael and Terry.

Charlie was then called up to the Army and spent two years in India and Burma, with Dorothy at home with the boys.

"It was very hard," she said.

"We didn't have a lot of money coming in, but we had to cope."

On Charlie's return, the couple had a daughter, Marion.

  • It was a year before Great Britain entered the Second World War.

Superman made his first appearance as a hero in print and Sidney and Ruth Barker, of Clarkes Road, Dovercourt, got married.

On June 11, 1938, the pair tied the knot at Harwich Register Office, after meeting when they took a stroll along the town's seafront.

Mr Barker was 18 and Mrs Barker was 16 at the time.

This week, as they look forward to their platinum anniversary, Mrs Barker said: "It is an achievement I never thought I would reach."

Mr Barker, 88, was born in Manor Lane, Dovercourt.

Mrs Barker, 87, was born in Plymouth and moved to the Harwich area in 1934, when her father moved there with HM Customs and Excise.

In 1953, Mr Barker received a certificate from the Royal Humane Society for putting his life at risk, by rescuing a boy caught in strong currents off Harwich beach.

  • More in today's Gazette