We went to a most wonderful event: the seventieth wedding anniversary of Ray and Dora Hart at Holy Rood Church, Market Rasen. Seventieth wedding anniversaries must be exceedingly rare.

I can’t imagine more than a handful take place each year in the county if not the country. I have calculated that if ever I were to achieve such an amazing goal, I would have to be married for another 45 years and live to 104 — tough challanges for anyone. The priest said that in forty years of priesthood, he had never presided over a seventieth wedding anniversary.

Marriage is the very cornerstone of society. Ray and Dora may have lived ordinary lives, but they are an extraordinary testament to faithfulness and a virtuous society. They were married in May 1940 — a few days after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.