A WELLING couple had special reason to celebrate this Christmas thanks to 70 years of marriage.

Cecilia and James Marsh got hitched on Christmas Day 1943 when he was 19 and his bride still 18.

The couple, of Seaton Road, Welling, have nine great-grandchildren and welcomed 26 family members to the Clarendon Hotel in Blackheath for a party on December 25.

The pair worked together for 20 years at Alexander Hawkins ironmongers in Walworth which Mr Marsh, 89, joined as a boy.

He and his wife, 88, enjoyed an anniversary waltz around the dining room of the hotel.

Mr Marsh said: "It was an amazing day and even Father Christmas came round and gave everybody a present.

"In 1943 because the war was on and there was so much bombing going on we decided to get married.

"My mother managed to get us two chickens from the butchers so we could all have Christmas dinner.

"We were poor when we got married and poor for some years afterwards, but we survived.

"We just get on with each other."