They were childhood sweethearts at junior school.

Now Darren Ewart and Alison McCully are tying the knot – more than 40 years since they last said goodbye at the school gates.

The two were inseparable friends in the same class at Nields School in Slaithwaite, when Alison was 10 and Darren was 11.

But they lost touch when Darren and his family moved from the Colne Valley to New Mill.

Darren and Alison went their separate ways – with Darren attending Holmfirth High School while Alison studied at Colne Valley High School.

Eventually, Darren moving to Scarborough, where he lived for 32 years. He got married and had three children while Alison raised a family of her own in Linthwaite.

Alison, now aged 53, found Darren, 54, on Facebook two years ago and they began chatting online to each other as friends recalling their school days.

Darren Ewart and Alison McCully who were childhood sweethearts and are now engaged after finding each other again after more than 40 years

Said Alison: “At the end of April, he came over for a chat and we talked about our families.

“He came over from Scarborough every weekend after that. It was like we’d never been apart. We just never shut up talking. It was like we were 10 and 11 again.”

She said: “We weren’t looking for anything special, but Darren came back to live in Huddersfield here in July and got a transfer form his job.

“We went on holiday to the Isle of Wight and got engaged there. Darren got on stage at the hotel where we were staying during a cabaret night and proposed. He’d arranged it with the staff and I hadn’t a clue.

“I just wondered why he was rushing me to the cabaret at 9 o’clock!”

Dareen, a father of three, drives a roadside recovery truck for a living and is currently living at Berry Brow.

Darren Ewart and Alison McCully who were childhood sweethearts and are now engaged after finding each other again after more than 40 years

Alison, who also has three grown-up daughters and lives in Linthwaite, jokingly says she has never left school as she is a classroom assistant at Nields School.

The couple, who are only two months apart in age, have not yet set a date for their wedding. “We haven’t decided yet,” said Alison.

“It will probably be a quiet wedding sometime next year.”

She said: “It sounds such a funny story.

“Today’s kids would be keeping in touch on social media when they move away, but when we were young and a friend moved away, that was the end of it.”