AN office romance blossomed into 70 years of marriage for a North-East couple who celebrate their platinum wedding anniversary tomorrow (Tuesday, September 16).

Harry Rogers was at the start of his local government career – which would eventually see him become the first chief executive of Darlington Borough Council – when he met his future wife, Hilda.

The treasurer’s office at Wigan County Borough Council became the unlikely setting for the young couple’s romance, which began just days after the outbreak of the Second World War.

After getting engaged to his sweetheart, Mr Rogers left the office in 1941 to join the Royal Air Force as a pilot in Bomber Command.

The pair married in Wigan on September 16, 1944, when wartime rationing meant their guest list could not exceed more than 99 people.

Mr Rogers left the RAF in 1946 with a Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Force Cross medal and the couple spent the next 20 years moving around the country before settling in Darlington, where he was offered the job of treasurer with the local authority.

Following the local government shake-up of 1974, Mr Rogers became the first chief executive of Darlington Borough Council, where he stayed until 1983.

Mr Rogers later became a director at Darlington Building Society and was an active member of the Rotary Club of Darlington and the 41 Club.

In 1979 he was also one of the British government team sent out to supervise the first free elections in Rhodesia, while his wife’s career included stints as a leading firewoman, clerk, cashier, marriage guidance councillor and social worker.

Mrs Rogers, 91, was also instrumental in setting up the Abbeyfield Society which provides retirement accommodation in Darlington.

“We have always been very busy,” said Mr Rogers, 92.

“But we have always trusted each other and we have always talked to each other and shared everything.

“If one of us was down, the other would prop them up. If there is a problem we will solve it and realise that some things are not important.”

The inseparable couple, who have three children, seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, will celebrate their milestone anniversary with a family meal at the Black Bull, in Moulton, this weekend.