Their wedding photographs failed to come out so they have no record of the big day, but Jim and Doris Hardy have had a lot more success with their marriage – yesterday the Somerset couple celebrated 75 years together.

Mr Hardy, 99, a former champion cyclist, and his wife, 93, are both fit and healthy and welcomed friends and family to their home in Wells for their Boxing Day anniversary celebrations.

It has been a remarkable journey for the couple who met when they were children, living on opposite sides of the street in the picturesque village of Croscombe, near Wells.

Mrs Hardy's father worked at the Great Western Quarry, a big local employer. Her husband began working there, too, in his mid-teens.

He remembers the first car in Croscombe: "an Austin" owned by his boss, and how the men of the village gathered to examine it.

The couple married at the Baptist Church in Shepton Mallet when Mr Hardy was 24, and his bride, 18.

Mrs Hardy worked for a commercial photographer in Wells, whose assistant took the wedding photographs, arriving with a large plate camera and disappearing under a large sheet to take the images.

Sadly something went wrong and the pictures did not turn out.

They lived in Canada for some years, where Mr Hardy worked as a lumberjack in the far north.

He recalls: "I was working in the mountains in snow 4ft deep and at temperatures of 40 degrees below zero – that's not good for a Britisher."

But the couple, who are Adventists, loved the outdoor life and the camaraderie in the tiny community of 40 fellow Adventist families.

"There were bears, and the moose used to come round the house at night. It was wonderful," recalls Mrs Hardy.

Though Boxing Day was to become such a happy day for them, Mrs Hardy's family was hit by tragedy at Christmas 1926, when she was 11 years old.

Her father died of typhoid fever, aged just 46, leaving her mother to bring up eight children.

Mr Hardy left quarry work to become a tree feller, and also began to make a name for himself as a cyclist, winning competitions across the county, and coming second to the Welsh champion in one contest.

He set a record of 12 minutes for cycling between Glastonbury and Wells.

How has their marriage lasted 75 years? Mrs Hardy said with an impish smile: "It's a puzzle sometimes."

Mr Hardy said: "The Lord has been good to us. He has led us along."