She was kicked out by her family for marrying a black man – now they are celebrating 70 years together

Last year Jake and Mary Jacobs celebrated 70 years of wedded bliss but this couple has overcome all the obstacles to reach such a marriage milestone.

When Mary, who is White, met Jake, who is Black, it was 1940s Britain and although they were living in a city, Jake was one of the very few black men.

It would have been easy for Mary to walk away but she had fallen in love and would do anything she could to stay with her love, even after her father told her to leave.

“When I told my father I was going to marry Jake he said, ‘If you marry that man you will never set foot in this house again.’”

The couple had met when Jake came over from Trinidad during the war and they had attended the same technical college where Mary was having typing and shorthand lessons and he was training with the Air Force.