Reaching 50 or 60 years of marriage is a milestone many hope to make.

So you have to hand it to 92-year-old John Tarran and his 88-year-old wife Mabel who celebrated 70 years of wedded bliss last month.

The couple, of Blenheim Park Road in South Croydon, opened yet another congratulatory card from the Queen on August 24 their third in the last 30 years and were treated to a surprise tea party thrown by neighbours and friends.

Mabel, 88, said the couple were getting too old for a lively knees-up but celebrated their platinum anniversary in quiet reflection at home.

She said: "Well I've got a pacemaker and John's hearing is failing so we decided to celebrate quietly," said Mabel.

"But our neighbours weren't having any of it. They asked us to stop by for a drink, which was very nice of them.

"John and I met at a football dance in Kenley when I was about 17.

" I was with a friend and we went over to where John and his friends were and I danced with John."

The couple courted for two years before they got married on August 24, 1935.

"I don't remember a lot about the wedding," adds Mabel. It wasn't a terribly grand affair we just got married.

"Our parents were in business and didn't have the freedom in those days to close their business for too long.

"I remember them having to be back at work quite soon after the wedding.

"We didn't have a photographer so we don't have any pictures of the day."

The couple, who have two sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, believe that working together is the key to a long and happy married life.