A SINGLE dance led to life-long romance for one Worcestershire couple.

Janet and Harold Clarke met “in the usual way” at a Saturday night dance back in the 1950s. “He happened to ask me for a dance and that was it,” said Mrs Clarke.

“I didn’t think I’d see him again. I ended up leaving early and I was walking past the post office in Victoria Square in Droitwich when I saw this car going slowly.

“It was Harold.”

“I’d come to ask if I could give her a lift home,” said Mr Clarke. Mr and Mrs Clarke, of Blackfriars Avenue, Droitwich, tied the knot at Worcester Baptist Church in Sansome Walk.

And today they celebrate 50 years of marriage.

The couple, who still have a yellowed cutting of the original Evening News and Times wedding report, moved to Droitwich after 16 years in Worcester. They have two children, Denise and Darren, and a grandaughter, Jessie, aged 21.

“We never had a lot of money,” said Mrs Clarke, aged 70. “We had our home and our children and we lived for them.”

Mr Clarke, aged 85, worked as a draftsman at Archdales before a career teaching technical drawing. His wife worked at Kays before becoming a homemaker, later a leader for the Brownies and Scouts and, more recently, a Droitwich Town Councillor.

Keen pianist Mr Clarke spent two decades playing for guests at the Chateau Impney, near Droitwich, and continues to help out at the hotel with architecture and administration. Tonight, the couple will go for a meal at the Chateau, followed by a family party with 85 guests on Saturday, October 10.