A MUTUAL love of walking in the countryside is set to lead to wedded bliss for a couple who met through the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's Two's Company column.

Richard Clarkson and Jackie Wilcock will tie the knot at Burnley Register Office tomorrow.

And it was Jackie who took advantage of the Leap Year to pop the question. Richard, 45, said: "I replied to an advertIsement in the paper almost nine months ago now. Our first meeting was at the coffee bar in the Burnley Mechanics.

"Then about a week later we went for a walk over at Malham Cove, near Skipton. I think it's our mutual love of walking that meant we hit it off." The post room worker at Bae, who lives in Preston, added: "It was Jackie's idea to get married because it was a Leap Year. But I did the right thing later and went down on one knee."

Richard, who admits he almost thought he would end up a confirmed bachelor, says he answered Jackie's advert because it said she was a non-smoker and enjoyed walking. "Now I know she is a kind and loving person," he added.

The couple will live at housewife Jackie's home in Anne Close, Burnley.

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