Everyone dreams of getting the perfect Valentine's card, but the one Gordon Lomas received from his future wife in 1954 was the best he could have wished for. Happily married for 54 years, the retired General Electrics USA worker and Jean, a former children's nurse, have two sons, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild to share their special story with.

When did you meet?

Jean: I lived at Ashley and Gordon lived at Market Drayton and we both passed our exams to go to Market Drayton Grammar School. He passed me a note one day asking if I would go out with him and from then on we did go out with each other for the biggest part of our school life.

Gordon: She wasn't in my class originally. I think it was the second year that we were put together. We would have been 11 or 12 when I passed her a note asking if she would go out with me to the pictures. We went out together until we were about 16 and then she went off me.

What were your first impressions?

Jean: He thought I was wealthy because I had name tags in my clothes, but actually my mother worked for a family who ran a highly-respected farm. The lady made sure I was very well presented, even down to getting a good tennis racket.

I can remember the day he turned up at the house I was working at in the country. I was standing at the sink and he arrived on his bike. We weren't dating then and I was furious because I was frightened at what my boss would say.

Gordon: I thought she was from a well-off family because she had name tags in her clothes and that was an obvious sign, but I got that wrong. She was just so different from the other girls in the class and while I would have talked to them, I knew that Jean was special.

When did you get together?

Jean: When we left school we went our separate ways, although I did see him occasionally because he kept chasing me. I went off to work in a children's nursing home in Skegness and while I was there the house mother sent lots of Valentine's cards out one year as a nice gesture. I couldn't say that I didn't really have anyone to send them to because I was miles away from home and did know people, but when it came to it I just sent one to a boy in Ashley and another to Gordon. That was the start of it really. He found out where I was working and started a correspondence.

Gordon: I'd always carried a photograph of Jean in my wallet because I knew she was the girl I wanted to be with.

When I got the Valentine's card I was intrigued as to what would happen after.

I found out from a girl I knew where she was working and started writing to her. We had quite a long correspondence and my landlady would make jokes because I was sending so many letters.

Jean wrote to me almost daily when I was in the forces doing my national service. She was a very good letter writer.

Why did you decide to enter the Valentine's Day competition at Trentham Gardens?

Jean: I've always liked writing and I'm never anywhere without a pen close by. When I saw the competition advertised in The Sentinel I just thought that we had a good story about Trentham Gardens so I wrote it, sent it off and never really thought about it again.

When they said we had won the hamper I couldn't remember what the prizes were and automatically thought we had got second prize. When we got home I took a look inside and found an envelope saying 'be our Valentine for the whole year'. It was a season ticket to visit the gardens when we wanted, which was lovely as it's sorted our summer for us.

Gordon: Jean is a really good writer and she read pieces of the story out to me before she sent it off.

I was surprised when we won and just thought that the others mustn't be very good. No, Jean put together a lovely story that told of our association with Trentham, which is where I proposed when we were walking round the lake.

Does your spouse have any annoying habits?

Jean: I suppose he's untidy and he's a hoarder as well. If he does anything in the kitchen it's a bomb site, but I very rarely have to shout at him.

Gordon: She is too tidy. She can't go out and leave the dishes or not make the bed.

What is the secret to a lasting relationship?

Jean: You have to be best friends and understand each other. Gordon is probably more understanding than I am. If he has a cold for instance, he just gets on with it, but if I've got one it's different. Asking for help doesn't come easy to me, but I only have to say the word and he's there.

Gordon: You've got to be best mates. We have our differences, but we get through them. We've had a very happy life.