A HUSBAND and wife from Monmouth who celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day have looked back on their life together.

Peter and Glenys Hackett, who live together at Gibraltar Nursing Home in Monmouth, met in 1949 at a young person’s bible school in London at Emmanuel Church, Northwood.

They got engaged two years later, in 1951.

Asked about the day her husband proposed, Mrs Hackett said: “It was at home, and I said yes immediately.”

South Wales Argus:

Peter and Glenys Hackett celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary

But they had to wait a while to tie the knot as Mr Hackett spent a year away in Nigeria, writing a book about African dialects, which he taught at the time.

He returned to marry Mrs Hackett where their love story first began, at the Emmanuel Church in 1953.

Mrs Hackett recalled the weather on the day, and didn’t seem too impressed.

“It was raining,” Mrs Hackett says.

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In 1958, Mr Hackett left teaching to become a vicar, and the pair moved out of London to the Midlands, and then to the south west.

He went on to become the Vicar Choral at Hereford Cathedral in the 1970s, before moving to a large parish in Birmingham, and then onto Gloucestershire in what was a 40-year career.

Mrs Hackett became a teacher, which she did for 11 years, after which she tutored children individually and assisted at primary schools.

They light up when talking about their seven children, 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

South Wales Argus:

Peter and Glenys Hackett on their wedding day in 1951

Asked whether looking after so many children was tough, Mrs Hackett replied: “Not at all, the children were always very well behaved on the whole.”

“Misbehaving children would not have reflected well on any vicarage family,” said Ginny Hackett, their daughter.

Referring on marriage more generally, Mr Hackett said: “Don’t do it, don’t do it,” with a chuckle.

Asked what they had hoped for after their wedding day, Mrs Hackett said: “To stay married, and we hope to continue staying married for much longer.”

Mrs Hackett added that the most important thing about marriage is to “feel loved”.

Since moving from Gloucestershire into the care home in January 2018, the pair, who both have dementia, now share a double room and their own independent lounges at the care home, with family photos proudly positioned around them.