HAPPY couple Eric and Winifred Pryer tied the knot – 70 years after their first wedding day.

The pensioners decided to mark their platinum wedding by renewing their vows at the same Ipswich church where they said “I do” seven decades ago.

Friends and family gathered at Alan Road Methodist Church on Sunday for the special service.

Eric, 94, and Winifred, 88, first met when he was 24 and she was just 17.

They had both gone along to watch Gone With The Wind – and Winifred was quite literally swept off her feet by Eric.

She said: “It was in the picture house in Ipswich. We sat on the back row. He had his leg in plaster and I fell over it.

“I said sorry and we went for a cup of tea afterwards.”

A year later – on July 25, 1942 – the couple were married.

They chose to recreate the moment with 25 friends and family in honour of their platinum wedding because Eric “thought it was romantic”.

Eric said: “It went off very well, the chapel was nearly full.”

After they married the couple lived at Feltwell on the Norfolk/Suffolk border – the village where Eric was born.

Eric had just joined the Royal Artillery when the pair met and was in the army for six-and-a-half years.

After he was discharged, he became a clerical officer at RAF Feltwell for six years until it closed and was then posted to RAF Lakenheath, where he worked for 33 years before retiring.

Winifred was born in Dunmow in Essex and moved to Ipswich when she was young.

She worked as an electric welder at Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies for seven years before leaving to bring up her children.

The couple moved to Mildenhall in the early 70s and still call the town their home.

They have two children, Barry and Sandra, four grandchildren, Tara, Lisa, Craig and Lynsey, and six great grandchildren, Ben, Emily, Grace, Freya, Harry and George – with two more on the way.

Winifred said: “It’s been a happy marriage. We’ve been blessed with a son and a daughter, grandchildren and great grandchildren.”

The couple will be celebrating the actual day of their anniversary together at the Bull Hotel in Barton Mills tomorrow.