A RIBBLE Valley couple celebrating 70 years of marriage believe the secret to a long and happy relationship is sharing household chores.

Arthur Douglas Booth, 94, and his wife Gladys, 92, of Clitheroe Road, Waddington, celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary with their total of 26 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren on Sunday.

The couple, who met by Clitheroe Castle when they were teenagers, married on February 28, 1940, at Moor Lane Methodist Church in Clitheroe.

Yesterday Ribble Valley Mayor, Coun Beverley Jones visited the couple taking them flowers and congratulated them.

Mr Booth, a retired merchant rep for Whitesides, Clitheroe, said that he and his wife were as happy as when they first met.

He said: “Our relationship has changed a lot over the years, but we are still as happy as ever.

“The reason we have managed to have so many happy years is that we have always shared all the household work.

“We decided to get married on the 28th not the 29th because otherwise we would only have celebrated an anniversary every four years so we would have been married over 17 years now!”

The record for Britain’s longest marriage is Frank and Anita Milford at 81 years.