A COUPLE who fell in love as teenagers before spending most of their lives on opposite sides of the world will finally get married this weekend – more than 80 years after they first met.

Childhood sweethearts Bob Humphries, 89, and 87-year-old Bernie Bluett lost touch with each other during the Second World War, but will tie the knot in Pawlett near Bridgwater this Saturday (July 20).

Although Mr Humphries wrote regular love letters to his sweetheart after joining the Army, they were never passed on by Mrs Bluett’s parents.

Mrs Bluett, who enlisted as a military nurse in the RAF, later married a pilot and emigrated to New Zealand, while Mr Humphries married wife Beryl.

The couple recently got back in touch after both were widowed, and now Mrs Bluett has moved to Somerset to be with her first love.

She said: “When I was 17, I thought ‘I’m going to marry that man one day’ but I never said a word to anyone.

“When I saw him again I didn’t see an old man – I saw that young soldier. We both feel young at heart.”

Mr Humphries said: "The important thing - the meaning of all this really - is that we met all those years ago and it must have really left some sort if impression.

"And when circumstances brought us closer together we finally got married after all these years."

The couple, who have ten grandchildren and five great grandchildren between them, will get married at the St John the Baptist Church on Saturday.