Devoted couple clock up 78 years of marriage (and they spent four years courting)

It is thought that the couple's remarkable union is one of the longest ever in Britain, and they could even feature in the book of Guinness World Records when they reach the magic 80.

The pair credit the success of their "marriage made in heaven" to having an almost telepathic understanding, and a shared love of dancing.

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Amazingly Margaret, who has just celebrated her 100th birthday and received a message from the Queen, said: "I was only 17 or 18 when I met Jim and I never thought I'd stick it. We did nearly finished it once."

But fortunately they have enjoyed an incredibly happy life together.

Jim said: "We have done fantastic to get where we are. I think it has been so successful because we both think alike.

"We don't really know how we have done it. Nobody could have had a better life. We have always been very happy."

Jim, who married Margaret at St Gregory's Church, Chorley, on May 25 1929, after a four-year courtship, vividly remembers the first time they met.

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He said: "I first saw Margaret when I was friends with her brother.

"I asked him who the girl in the corner was and he said 'that's our Maggie – she's a good 'un' and he was right!

"We were married on the Saturday and back to work on the Monday – there was no time for honeymoons in those days."

Remembering the wedding day, Margaret added: "I told my mother not to spend her money on a wedding dress as Jim had bought me a smart dress for a Territorial ball.

"It was pale green with a petal trim but I didn't really like it as it was short and showed too much leg."

Margaret, who was one of 11 children, continued: "We had a beautiful three-tier wedding cake that was covered with the veil that I wore for church.

"We booked a room at a pub, which had a piano, and invited 50 guests."

At one point the couple used to go dancing four nights a week.

When the couple first married they worked together at the Cowling Mill on Cowling Brow, in Chorley.

During the Second World War, Jim served with the Royal Navy and was with the South East Asia Command on HMS Battler.

"I crossed the equator 14 times and lived in the jungle with the natives," recalled Jim, who enlisted in 1941.

"We were based in the Indian Ocean and would get paid two bob a day.

"Every week I would send seven bob home to Margaret and have seven bob to spend."

The couple eventually ended up working at the Royal Ordnance site in Euxton.

The couple had one child – a daughter called Pauline – but tragically she died in hospital at the age of 56.

The pair also have three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Ruth, 41, was their first grandchild – born in 1967. She lives in Fylde Street in Preston, and has two children, Peter, 20 and Lucy, nine.

David, 47, lives in Lighthurst Lane in Chorley; and Judith, 48, of Carr Field in Clayton Brook has Jennifer, 14 and Fiona, 11, and her husband's two children Michael and Catherine, who are in their 20s.

All of their family and friends returned to St Gregory's earlier this month to celebrate Margaret's 100th birthday.