IT was VE Day in 1945 and a teenage Joan Ford was climbing a lamp post to tie up festive balloons - when her mother called her down to tell her that a young man back from the RAF was waiting to see her.

Bill Hawkley took her for a walk in the park and proposed to her in full view of Aston Villa Football Club - and just over a month later they were married.

Seventy years later the couple, now of Willow Drive, Barnt Green, are still together and have just celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary.

In the meantime they have had four children - three boys and a girl - eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

Mr Hawkley, now aged 92, spent most of his working life at Land Rover, Solihull, where he was a production engineer, while his wife worked part-time at Cadbury's.

The pair met through their mothers, who were working in a factory putting rivets in tank parts in Aston, Birmingham.

Florence Hawkley proudly produced a photograph of her son Bill in his RAF uniform in 1941 and showed it to Joan, who was working in the Auxiliary Fire Service at the time.

He was serving in Bomber Command with the Pathfinders and was a ground crew electrician.

The couple's eldest child, Paul Hawkley, now aged 69, of Orchard Croft, Barnt Green, said: "One of his favourite sayings to me as a teenager was 'when I was your age, my boy, I was underneath an aeroplane engine with six inches of snow on my collar'."

Mr and Mrs Hawkley were married at St Mary's Church, Aston, on June 18 1945, spending most of their life in the Birmingham area before moving to Barnt Green about 20 years ago.

They used to enjoy taking their growing family on camping holidays around the UK, with the children sitting on the luggage in the back seat.

The couple celebrated their 70th anniversary with a family party at the home of their daughter, Sue Cooke, in Shut Mill Lane, Romsley.

Mrs Hawkley, now aged 88, gave her recipe for a long and happy married life as: "Love, not being selfish and give and take."