"We were being bombed. I sprang out of bed terror stricken and ran straight for Joan’s house to check she was OK. It was then I knew she had to be my wife."
It is the kind of epic love story you might find in a romantic novel; Sam Price, 93, and his wife Joan, 91, first met at a wartime dance in 1940.
Next month they will join a platinum elite as they celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
The pair met at a Paul Jones dance in Oldham, Manchester.
Sam said: "During the hardship of the war, the dances were the one way we were able to relax.
"What happened was the boys formed an outer circle around the girls and when the music started both circles moved around.
"When the music stopped you danced with whoever was opposite you – and that was how I met Joan.
"I knew she was the one for me after a wartime raid in 1943.
"One night I got caught out.
"There were the unmistakable sounds and screams of bombs falling.
"I sprang out of bed terror stricken.
"I was very much in love already and ran down to road to see that Joan was OK.
"I made a judgement mistake, it was not just one bomb there were loads. I ran anyway. That was when I knew."
While they were courting, the couple bought a tandem and cycled 5,280 miles – with Sam recording every mile in a notepad.
The childhood sweethearts were married on July 21, 1945 (pictured below) – two months after VE Day.
At the time, Sam was a 23-year-old apprentice toolmaker earning £3 a week working 70 hours.
He later became a director of manufacturing at General Motors UK and Ireland before going on to become plant director at Vauxhall in Luton.
Joan worked for a number of years as a manufacturing chemist.
The couple, who had three children, six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, said the recipe for a long, happy marriage was to "keep going through adversity, have shared values and interests and make each other cheerful".
The pair moved to Harpenden in 1968.
Joan, who volunteered at Oxfam in Harpenden for 15 years, said: "We feel so lucky to have met each other.
"Sam has been a great husband. He is just as devoted now as he ever was. We enjoy every day together and are still madly in love.
"What first attracted me to Sam was his intelligence and kindness – qualities he still has today."
Joan said the saddest event in the marriage was the loss of the couple’s daughter Jean – who died in a motorbike accident in 1997, aged 40.
She added: "Nothing ever prepares you for the sadness of losing a child.
"We have also had various health scares, and I even had a bypass so am not as quick as I once was.
"But we take each day as it comes. The trick is to keep the mind active."
The couple, who have travelled around the word, will mark their seven decade marital milestone with a party at Harpenden Golf Club on July 18.
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