A Guiseley couple who met through a newspaper advert say their story shows you are never too old to find love.

Mikki Godden, 87, and Peter Russell, 82, of Broadway, met eight years ago after Mikki came across an ad in a local paper from a man wanting someone to teach him ballroom dancing.

She hoped it would give her something to do once a week and Peter wanted to revive the love of dancing he had when he was younger. The two met up, started regular lessons and the two soon fell in love.

They had both previously been married and widowed and enjoyed ballroom dancing when they were younger.

They have been engaged for a year and will get married on August 26 at Chevin Country Park Hotel.

Mikki, a former member of the WRAF, is from Bradford but lived in Kent for 60 years.

She describes Peter as her “toyboy” and said: “I used to teach ballroom dancing in London and he had danced before and wanted to get a bit better at it. He put an ad in one of the local papers.

“I didn’t have anyone left so I thought it would be nice to have something to look forward to on a Saturday evening.

“We started going out together and eventually I moved in with him. I thought it would be a chance to get dressed up and get out of the house – I wasn’t banking on falling in love.”

Her work for the WRAF in the war took her to Kent, but she decided to move back to the Bradford area to live out the rest of her days.

She said: “I came back here to die. But now I just want to carry on living.

“Both of us can’t believe it. It is nice to feel like this at this age. I was starting to think there would be nothing left.”

Peter, a retired engineer, added: “My dancing wasn’t up to much, but we fell in love.

“We are soulmates and a bit old-fashioned so we thought a wedding would make it official. We though we’d best do it before the grim reaper comes. We’re both from the group that thinks the glass is half full, not half empty.”

Despite their romantic story, the proposal was a bit more straightforward. Mikki said: “We had been together a while and one day he said, ‘Do you want to marry me?’”