A COUPLE from Oakley who were drawn together following a traumatic incident are celebrating an incredible 70 years of marriage.

Mollie and Leslie Smith marked their Platinum wedding anniversary on Tuesday when they received a card from The Queen, along with lots of flowers and cards sent by family and friends. 

They will also be celebrating with friends and family at a party in Malshanger on Saturday.

Mollie grew up in London but moved to Newfound when she was 17-years-old, fleeing the bombings during the Second World War.

She said: "I worked in the city and I gave my job up and came here. Les's father had a haulage business. They went to London and fetched our furniture. Les and his brother went to get it and when they delivered it I met Les."

The pair, who are both now 92-years-old, regularly saw each other at the Fox Pub in Newfound where Mollie played the piano.

But a traumatic incident one evening left Mollie feeling fearful of going out.

She said: "I lived at Manydown Park and it was a mile walk along a private drive. I had gone to the pictures in Basingstoke and I got the bus home and got off at Newfound at 9.50pm and someone followed me up the drive and made a few suggestions and I knocked him off his cycle.

"I didn't go out after that because it unnerved me."

Hearing that Mollie was too frightened to leave the house, Les offered to walk her home and the pair got together soon after.

Mollie said: "He was the most kind, generous person."

They married in Wootten St Lawrence on a cold but bright day, joined by family and friends, before celebrating their reception at Battledown Farm, where Les's father was working.

The happy couple went on a honeymoon to London, and travelled the four-hour journey by car.

The pair started their married life in Battledown and went on to have two children - Margaret, now 68, and Philip, now 65.

Mollie worked for Thornycroft and Les spent his working life as a farmer on his father's farm, which he eventually took over with his two brothers.

In 1980 the couple moved to Monk Sherborne where they took over the running of Rookery Farm.

Les retired in 1992 and they moved to their current home in Pardown the following year, where their families helped build them a new house, knocking down a derelict bungalow that was on the site.

In their spare time, Les enjoyed restoring old vehicles while Mollie enjoyed cake decorating.

They loved going on holidays together in their caravan, and also travelled around Europe and visited Australia twice.

The couple now have four grandchildren, four great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Asked what is the secret to a happy marriage, Mollie said: "Give and take. Les has always been a very happy man, happy in what he's doing and if we had a difference of opinion, which we often did, we just talked it out. If you differ then you begged to differ and left it at that. We never go to bed without saying goodnight."

Les joked: "You do as your wife tells you!"