1966 was the year England famously won the World Cup, BBC first broadcast in colour and when John Lennon met Yoko Ono.

It was also the year that Tony and Barbara Woodward and fellow Winsford lovebirds George and Pam Slack tied the knot.

And it’s not just the same wedding day the two couples have in common.

Shortly after they wed, Tony and Barbara moved next door to George and Pam, where they have lived in harmony for 50 years.

“We’ve known them all our lives really,” Tony, 74, said. “They moved in several weeks before us.

“They have been brilliant neighbours. We’ve never had a crossed word with them.”

George, 84, had similarly kind praise for the Woodwards.

He said: “They’ve been very good to us. I couldn’t have wished for better neighbours.”

Tony met his future wife in 1959 at the youth club in Deane Street.

“My eyes lit up when I saw her,” he said.

Was it love at first sight?

“Possibly aye. Nobody else would have me,” he said.

After that first encounter love began to blossom.

They would spend their days walking around Winsford’s beautiful countryside.

After several years together, Tony decided it was time to ask for his beloved Barbara’s hand in marriage.

As was customary in those days, he approached her father for his blessing.

“He said, well as long as you can look after her, you can have her,” he joked.

“You can take her off my hands.”

The pair married on April 1, 1966, in St John the Evangelist's Church in Winsford.

“It was a really good wedding,” Tony said. “It snowed that day, it was perfect.”

On the same day George and Pam, 79, married at Whitegate Methodist Church.

George said the two lovebirds used to dance the nights away in their younger years.

“We used to like dancing, but we just watch it on the telly now,” he said.

Pam, who suffers with dementia, and George – who are both retired – have two daughters and two granddaughters.

“We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re still alright,” George said.

Tony said the secret to their long-lasting message is about ‘give and take’.

The 74-year old still works to this day, running his own business, Tony Woodward Complete Gardening Maintenance.

“Stay a cut above the rest, that’s my motto,” Tony said.

Barbara, 71, said the fact he has worked so hard all of his life is part of the reason they have remained together to this day.

“He has always worked away a lot really, so we have had no time to fall out,” she said.

And she said she isn’t about to stop her hard-working husband retire any time soon.

She joked: “He’s not going to retire, it’s peaceful when he’s out.”