A couple born on the same day at the same hospital have got married – 50 years later.
Alison Blackwell and James Hodges came into the world at Berkeley Hospital and their mothers cradled them in the maternity ward just metres apart.
The pair were in the same class at Cam Hopton Primary School – pictured just one person apart on their official school photo.
But they lost touch when James moved school aged eight – until they found each other online and he sent a light-hearted message to ask the date of her birthday.
Four years later the pair tied the knot – the day after their 50th birthdays – in front of old classmates.
Even their old teacher who presented them with the old class photo.
Pub manager Alison said: “People say it’s destiny that we ended up together because we have so many connections.
“It is absolutely destined to be. James hasn’t stopped grinning since the wedding.”
Wool machinist James added: “People ask when we met and when we say ‘on the day we were born’ they are shocked.”
Alison’s mum Isabel Denning gave birth on the same day as James’ mother Linda Hodges, on February 3, 1967, before she passed away eight years later.
“We could have been in beds next to each other – we really don’t know”
They both joined Cam Hopton Primary School in Dursley, Gloucestershire, aged four, and Alison said her first memory of James is his “round faced little boy”.
She added: “I remember him being in my class and being aware that his mum had died.
“I remember feeling really sorry for him and not imagining what it would be like.”
Romantic James added: “I just remember her really kind smile. That always stayed with me – and it’s still the same today.”
James moved away when his father remarried following his mother’s death, and occasionally bumped into each other a few times over the years, politely saying hello.
Mum-of-two Alison got married when she was 21, and divorced around ten years later.
The school mates reconnected via Friends Reunited and then through Facebook before the pair finally organised to meet-up just after Christmas in 2012.
“He said hi and asked me when my birthday was – obviously knowing full well when it was,” said Alison.
“We arranged to meet a few days after Christmas and then started seeing each other soon after.
“I asked him ‘are you married now with six kids’ and he said ‘no, not at all’. We’ve been together ever since.”
James popped the question in September 2015 whilst the pair was on holiday in Devon.
“So many people have said to us how crazy they think our story is,” said gran-of-one Alison, whose father worked in the nuclear power industry – same as James’.
“I think it’s the fact that we have so many similarities that brought us together in the first place.
“It’s just meant to be.”
James and Alison married at Cam Methodist Church on February 4.