The Second World War had been finished for just a year when popular Island couple Alf and Agnes Stupple wed.

Aged 19 and 18 respectively, they had met two years previously when the merchant seaman had come ashore in Greenock, Scotland.

He had gone into a general store Agnes was working in to get supplies. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The couple, who married on July 26, 1946, will mark 70 years of marriage on Tuesday.

They will be joined at Minster’s Abbey Hotel by family and friends from across the UK for their platinum wedding celebrations.

Born-and-bred Islander Alf and Scotland native Agnes, who have seven children, 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, originally set up home in Greenock.

They headed to Sheppey in 1953 and moved into a place in Spring Garden Passage, Sheerness.

Alf starting working as a wireless operator and Agnes was busy looking after her first three children.

Looking back at the wedding day, Agnes, who was then working for a butcher, said: “We couldn’t afford any food really so my boss got a big sirloin steak and everyone had that to eat.

-Agnes Stupple
“As it was still war rations, we had a very modest affair."

"We had a street party too and everyone pooled their rations and my uncle, who ran the bakery, made the cake.”

In the 63 years they’ve lived together on Sheppey, the Stupples have become a big part of the community.

Alf, 89, has been a groundsman and member of Sheppey Rugby Club for more than 35 years.

In 2011, the club renamed the ground Stupplefield in his honour.

Agnes, 88, is the president of the Sheppey Senior Fellowship, a group of ladies who meet each Wednesday at Layzells, Minster.

Speaking at their home in Porter Close, Minster, they were asked what the secret to their long marriage was.

Alf said: “Just going with the flow.”

While according to Agnes, it’s “give and take”.