Banbury grandfather, 90, proposes to wife of six decades

“I don’t know what I’d do without her”. Tony wanted only one thing for his 90th birthday, for his wife Sandra to marry him again.

The pair, from Banbury, first wed in the late 1950s, and have been together ever since.

Tony said he had been trying to think of a way to celebrate his 90th birthday last month with something “we can both enjoy with all the family”.

Having discounted a bungee jump or a skydive, which he said he “didn’t want to do”, Tony settled on rolling back the years and proposing to his wife of six decades for a second time.

“Somebody helped me down on to one knee and I looked up at Sandra and I said ‘will you marry me’,” he told the BBC.

Tony said: “I thought she was going to say ‘no way’, but she didn’t, she said ‘of course I will.”

“We sit and talk, I enjoy her company now as I’ve always done.”

“I just don’t know what I’d do without her,” he added.

Sandra was recently diagnosed with dementia, and lives at The Ridings care home in Banbury.

The couple’s youngest son, Nigel, said that it had been a “bit of a shock” seeing his father get down on one knee.

“Recent years have been quite difficult with mum being in The Ridings, but their bond is unbreakable,” he added.

Stephanie Robinson, the home’s deputy manager, added that the stunt had been “a bit of a surprise” but was “adorable”.

“They’re a devoted couple – they are the couple that everyone aspires to be when they’re older,” she added.