AN OSWALDTWISTLE couple celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary in style.

Mildred, 91, and Arthur Abbott, 89, were surrounded by their family as they marked 70 years of marriage with a meal at Samlesbury Hotel.

Son David drove from Langho while Elaine’s sister Annette flew in from Luxembourg for the celebrations.

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The couple’s other daughter Carolyn is away in Portugal and she is hosting part two of the celebrations at her home in Buckingham this weekend.

A third daughter, Elaine Whittle, of Petre Crescent in Rishton, said the ageing lovebirds were inseparable.

Arthur and Mildred, of Aspin Lane, Stanhill, met during the war through his elder sister Lily, as both ladies worked at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Blackburn.

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The couple married at St Mary’s Church, Islington, before setting up home in Ross Street, Blackburn.

The couple also have eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren but Dave says their secret to a long marriage is his father kissing Mildred every morning and every night.

David’s wife Pamela said: “They once won a Happy Families competition at Great Yarmouth because that’s what they are, a happy family. In his whole life he only had one car, a Ford Anglia. He had it for years until it died and that was it.”

Mildred was a dinner lady at West End School, Oswaldtwistle, but also spent many years at Rists Wires in Accrington.

The couple have lived on Aspin Lane for more than 50 years but have travelled widely. Arthur went to India and Egypt with his jobs at Northrop Loom Works on Harwood Street and later Mullard in Blackburn.

Elaine added: “They did a trip around the world, and as my sister lives in Luxembourg and she has no children she has taken them all over. When my dad was working he would be away for months at a time and my mum would be left with us lot.”