TWO couples who discovered they tied the knot at the same time are set to celebrate their wedding anniversaries together for the 40th year.

Chris and Gordon Hunt, of Church Cowley Road, Oxford, were married on the same day and at the same time as Gina and Ernie Phipps, of Duns Tew, near Chipping Norton.

But the couples only realised they all tied the knot at 2.30pm on July 19, 1975, after Mrs Hunt and Mrs Phipps began chatting while both working at the former Cowley Road Hospital.

It was just one of many coincidences between the weddings, with both women getting married at the same age, having a 13-year-old Scottish niece as a bridesmaid, and their brothers giving them away.

The couples have stayed friends ever since.

Mrs Hunt said: “It’s just great that we have kept in touch all these years. We think it’s great. It was just the wow factor.”

Mrs Hunt met her husband Gordon, an Oxfordshire County Council drainage engineer, in 1971 after leaving Lancashire the year before to train as an occupational therapist.

The couple, who were both 19 at the time, had joined a Duke of Edinburgh gold award holders’ club after completing the challenge, first laying eyes on each other at the club’s meeting in New Inn Hall Street.

The couple got engaged in 1973, marrying at Lancashire’s Duckworth Street Congregational church two years later. Mr and Mrs Hunt, both 63, now have two children and two grandchildren, with another grandchild on the way.

Mrs Hunt, who worked at the former Cowley Road Hospital between 1973 and 1980, said Mrs Phipps, a nurse, had been working on the same ward as her.

She said the pair realised they were getting married on the same day after a fleeting conversation and discovered other similarities through further conversations.

Mrs Hunt, who also worked at the Radcliffe Infirmary and the Churchill Hospital, said: “It came out over time.

“We were just chatting about the wedding and planning for it when we realised.”

She said the couples later discovered Mr and Mrs Phipps’ eldest daughter Louise Thompson was born on June 14, the same day as Mr Hunt’s birthday.

Both couples have since celebrated their anniversaries together and will do so again tomorrow. They plan to jet off on a September weekend break to mark their Ruby wedding anniversaries.

Mrs Phipps, 63, initially met husband Ernie, a 69-year-old farmer, through a family member. They split up but rekindled their love five years after their first meeting.

The couple, who tied the knot at Steeple Barton church after a year-long engagement, now have two children and two grandchildren.

Retired nurse Mrs Phipps, nee Simson, said: “I think the coincidences are incredible – how often does it happen?”