Dorothy celebrates an amazing double milestone

Dorothy Richards is preparing to mark two impressive milestones in the same month - celebrating both her 100th birthday and 70th wedding anniversary.

Mrs Richards, of Wednesbury, will celebrate her landmark birthday with family and her husband Joseph, aged 90, tomorrow. Their platinum wedding anniversary is a fortnight today.

The couple put the secret of their good health down to luck. Mr Richards said today: "We've lived a normal life together and been lucky to live this long."

Dorothy and Joseph married at the old Hydes Road registry office in Wednesbury on February 17 1941, three days after Mr Richards received his call up papers to serve in the Army during the Second World War.

They had to delay tying the knot until a Monday morning because they had to wait over the weekend for a licence.

Mr Richards, a former Sergeant in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, was rushed off to barracks in Lichfield three days later. He later served in North Africa, Italy and Greece.

Despite their short honeymoon, Mr Richards said the pair had more than made up for their six years apart since.

Mr Richards, a retired hygiene officer, said: "Dot's been a wonderful friend, a wife, a companion and my advisor.

"We've learnt to give and take and sometimes disagree with each other and that's the secret." The pair have always enjoyed motoring in the countryside and keeping animals — and even kept as many as 16 dairy goats in their back garden for years.

Mr Richards added: "Dorothy used to make cheese and we used to take them to shows but we stopped after foot and mouth."

He added that Mrs Richards, a former aircraft part examiner at Rubery Owen in Darlaston High Street, now kept quails, zebra finches and Java sparrows at their home.

Mr Richards said the couple would celebrate both milestones in low-key fashion.

He said: "I hope we will do very little to celebrate. Neither of us are too keen on the limelight but we will carry on and enjoy the days ourselves.

"We married 70 years ago and we've been together happily ever since so I don't see why we should change that."