I was in the dog house!

But despite his apparent lack of interest in weddings, his date, Megan, decided to give him another chance - and the couple are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary today.

Maurice met his wife when they went walking with friends down Church Street, Worcester, around 1949.

The couple had their first date at the Scala Cinema when Mr Freeman had been demobbed after serving in the 1st Battalion, the Worcestershire Regiment .

Megan was living in Broadheath at the time, and Mr Freeman had to cycle an extra four miles to see that his wife-to-be got home safely.

"I though she was marvellous when I met her," said Mr Freeman, aged 78. "When I slept on our first date at the cinema I was in the dog house, I can tell you."

But despite this, the young ex-serviceman had already made an impression.

"I thought he was very nice," said Mrs Freeman, aged 72.

So the path of true love ran a smooth course after all and the couple tied the knot at Christ Church in Broadheath, though when they took the wedding cake back to their house in Moor Street, they forgot to take it in.

"We left the cake outside on the doorstep," said Mrs Freeman. "It was a frosty night and we took the cake in the day after. It was fruit cake and we kept it for 12 months."

Maurice worked as a foreman driver for Pickfords and for GT Rackstraw among other jobs, until becoming a general manager for Underwood Steel Stockholders Ltd from 1976 until 2000.

Megan worked at Frank Bryan's Glove Factory, Bromyard Road, Worcester, for 30 years.

The golden couple, who have been living at their home in Windermere Drive, Warndon, Worcester, most of their married life, have a 43-year-old daughter and a 22-year-old granddaughter.

The couple, who have both enjoyed playing skittles and darts over the years, are both members of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows Worcester District.

"The longer we have been married the more we help each other," said Mr Freeman.