Soldier Bill Trafford met the love of his life when he cheekily asked to walk her home only minutes after they met in an Oxford street.

That was 67 years ago today the sweethearts are celebrating 65 years of married bliss.

Queenie was walking home after a service at St Clement's Church on a cool October evening in 1933 when they met in Gipsy Lane, Headington.

She had just moved to Oxford to work as a cook. Bill was a soldier based in Aldershot who had been visiting his parents and was out walking with a friend. They asked if they could walk with her. Queenie, now aged 84, said: "I know it was a bit saucy of him, but he seemed nice."

They arranged to meet the next day, but Bill returned to his barracks a few days later.

Queenie, whose real name is Gertrude, did not believe she would see her cheeky soldier again. But weeks later he contacted her when he was on leave. Romance blossomed and the couple were married in 1935. The couple, who live in Atkinson Close, Barton, Oxford, both say it was love at first sight.

But in 1936 they were parted after the birth of their first son William, when Bill was posted to India. As war broke out Bill returned to England to train new recruits. He later served as an artillery soldier and was away until December 1945. Queenie returned to Wiltshire, to work on the signals for the railways. On leaving the Army, Bill became a builder he helped build the estate where the couple still live today. He later worked for Morris Motors.

The war years were not the loving couple's only difficult times. Queenie contracted polio in 1950 and became wheelchair-bound for a year. Bill looked after his wife through her sickness and continues to do so today, as she suffers with osteoperosis.

Bill said: "I gave Queenie that nickname because that's what she is to me a real Queen."

The couple plan to celebrate their big day with drinks with their five children, 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.