FORMER Prime Minister James Callaghan, who died last weekend on the eve of his 93rd birthday, had close links with Maidstone - and met the love of his life in the county town.

His late wife, Audrey, was educated at Maidstone and her father was managing director of the Lead Wool Company, a local tool making firm.

She first met James Callaghan, who was born in Portsmouth in 1912, when he came to Maidstone to work as a tax officer in about 1930.

He had joined the Maidstone Baptist Church in Knightrider Street. And it has emerged the couple's love story began following of an invitation to afternoon tea after a Sunday school class. Audrey, then a Maidstone High School student, was one of the Sunday school teachers.

One Sunday, she spotted the new teacher (the future PM) putting on his coat to leave. He told her he was going home to his digs. She told him: “You are expected at tea with Mrs Boorman.”

Mrs Bessie Boorman, wife of the founder of the Kent Messenger Group and an active supporter of the local Baptist Church, provided tea for the teachers every Sunday.

So Audrey and Jim Callaghan went to tea at the Boormans’ home in Maidstone. And the rest is history.

They “walked out” together for some eight years before they married in 1938.

The Kent Messenger was founded by Barham Pratt Boorman, who died in 1928. When the Callaghans first went to tea at the Boormans' home, the company was being run by Henry Roy Boorman, father of the present chairman, Edwin.

“Although they were political opposites, my father and Jim Callaghan corresponded regularly until my father’s death,” said Edwin. “The Callaghans never forgot their involvement with Maidstone.

“When I became chairman of the Maidstone Trust, which raised money for the Maidstone River Walk project, I invited Lady Callaghan to become vice-president and she was pleased to do so.

“I had hoped Lord Callaghan would return to Maidstone to the opening of the KM Millennium bridge but, unfortunately, Audrey had recently gone into a nursing home and he was unwilling to leave her.

“However, he and I wrote regularly. His replies were always very prompt and very pertinent.”

Mr Boorman added that his parents attended the Callaghans’ marriage and gave them a barometer as a wedding present. “Lord Callaghan told me he tapped it with affection every morning,” he said.

Lord Callaghan lived for many years in East Sussex. His wife predeceased him by only 11 days. He is survived by a son and two daughters, the elder of whom is Baroness Jay.