SOME marriages may not last long these days but Joan and Stan King's is as solid as a rock.

The couple, of Chapel Road, Epping, have been happily married since they wed in 1945 when Stan was on vacation leave from the army.

They met in the early 1940s when Stan went round the house of a cycling club friend and saw her for the first time.

Joan said: “He came to my house because he was a friend of my brother. He said he was going into the army, we got talking and he said “Would you write to me while I'm away?' and it went on from there.”

Stan took part in the D-Day landings, and the war would interrupt their early relationship, but the couple were able to find time to marry at St John's Church, Leytonstone, during a break in his army career.

Joan said: “He'd just come home when we decided to get married. There was beautiful weather at the wedding but obviously we had a very short time together- he was on four weeks' leave.

“We were very lucky when we went to Cornwall for three weeks and we had a wonderful time but then he went to Burma and I didn't see him for the first year of our marriage.”

After Stan was discharged from the army in 1946, he and Joan settled in Chingford, north east London.

Stan worked as a telephone engineer at the post office while Joan had a career as a comptometer operator for Brown Brothers adding up sums on a special machine.

The couple moved to Epping in 1954 first at an address in Crows Road and then to their current home in Chapel Road.

Their 65th wedding anniversary was marked with a special card from the Queen, and Stan puts their long marriage down to “Being active and living a good life.”

Joan said: “I don't know what it is but he's been a very good husband. Since we were married I never thought anything could part us.”

The couple have two children, Jeff and Chris, six grand children and one great grandchild on the way.

To celebrate their milestone anniversary, they visited Jeff at his home in Abbotts Langley, Hertfordshire, for a family party which 25 relatives also attended to raise a glass to their achievement.

Jeff, 58, said: “They do a lot together and they keep very fit. Mum's still gardening and dad's got a workshop he enjoys. They have a very active social life and they are loved by all.”