A COOKHILL couple are celebrating 70 years of marriage today.

Jim Clark, aged 91, and his wife Jean, aged 88, of Chamberlain Lane, have reached their platinum wedding anniversary and have been reminiscing about the last 70 years.

Jean said: “I can’t believe it. From the word go me and Jim have been the best of friends. We first met when I was 15 and he was 17 at a youth club. We have been extremely close ever since.”

Jean previously worked as a comptometer operator – which is a key-driven mechanical calculator – and Jim worked in the car industry.

The two were married at the Christadelphian Church in Small Heath on June 10, 1950 at half past 12.

Jean remembers hopping on a train at New Street Station in Birmingham at half past four to go on their honeymoon in Scarborough.

Jean added: “When I was 21, we decided to start a family and that’s when our daughter Lynn was born. Six years later we had our son Robert.”

The couple now have four granddaughters and six great grandchildren.

Jim said: “I’ve certainly had a happy life which is the main thing. We have a great family and they are always there for us.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed that we can keep going for a bit longer”.