A PROPOSAL in a letter secured ‘the happy ever after’ for Gerald and Jean Pogson, who are celebrating their diamond wedding.

The Clayton West couple – pictured now and on their wedding day – met at an RAF dance when pilot Mr Pogson was stationed in Hereford, where his wife-to-be lived.

After a brief romance Mr Pogson was posted to Singapore and sent his proposal in a letter to his sweetheart back home.

Mrs Pogson said: “There were so many of the forces stationed at Hereford and there was so much choice for the girls, but I found Gerald in among them all.

“I was 17 and he was 23 and not long after we got together he was sent out to Singapore and he was there for a year.

“He wrote to me asking me to get engaged and when he came back – I think it was on my 18th birthday – he came to Hereford.

“I was very surprised to read the letter. I thought ‘Oh great’ as getting engaged was a big thing and I was very happy.”

The couple tied the knot at Hereford Baptist Church.

Mrs Pogson added: “This was 1947 and a time of austerity. I wore my sister’s dress that she had worn in 1940 when she wed. It was an Ivory silk gown with a train and a veil and I had red carnations.”

They had a honeymoon in Blackpool before returning to settle in Huddersfield.

Mrs Pogson, now aged 78, and Mr Pogson, 83, have two children and four grandchildren.

They returned to Hereford to celebrate their anniversary with family and friends before enjoying an ‘at home’ in Huddersfield.

As for the secret of a happy marriage, Mrs Pogson said: “I think it’s being able to compromise a bit.

“You don’t change the person you are when you get married, so you have to make allowances for each other.”