YOU can hardly call it puppy love. Hush Puppy love would in fact be nearer the mark for an Otley couple getting ready to tie the knot this spring.

But the maxim that you can fall in love at any age could hardly be more true than for James Foster and Barbara Scott.

Because with a combined age of 160-years-old, 89-year-old James and 71-year-old Barbara will be saying 'I do' on April 12 after falling in love with each other at Spring Gardens Residential Home on Westbourne Grove.

And although James didn't follow tradition to the letter, his proposal to Barbara before Christmas was a special moment for them both.

"I didn't get down on one knee," James explains. "If I had, I might not have got back up again."

"My nickname for her is bonny-face. She can be a bit of a paddy at times but there is something that attracts me to her, I think a great deal about her."

The couple first met when Barbara moved into Spring Gardens two years ago. She and James- who became a permanent resident seven months ago after around five years of visiting for respite care - hit it off straight away.

Explained James: "She used to come into the lounge to say goodnight to some of the female residents and give them all a kiss on the mouth.

"When it came to me, all I got was a peck on the forehead. I said I'm not letting you get away with that so I gave her a big kiss on the lips and said you can share that one out."

And for Barbara, who has been widowed three times and James once, they saw in each other the chance for an unexpected future happiness.

"We are together all the time," says Barbara. "When he proposed, I said yes straight away, it was lovely.

"We got engaged in December. My son had asked the month before if I was getting married and I said no but then the month after, I told him I was engaged.

"But my family don't really mind I think. One of my daughters has been married four times so she can't say anything."

The couple will wed on April 12 at Otley Parish Church in front of just a handful of close family and friends.

After the ceremony, the couple are having a wedding lunch at the Westbourne pub on Bradford Road with anyone free to pop in and join them for a celebration drink.

Added James: "We are just having a simple ceremony. We had a word with the vicar and he is going to keep it very short so we don't have to stand around for too long.

"I think maybe my family thought I was wrong in the head when I told them we were getting married, but it's my life.

"I am marrying Barbara because I love her but my family are alright about it really, they are all helping out with the wedding plans."

The couple are not going on honeymoon after the wedding but are looking forward to the possibility of sharing a room together once they are wed. They do not at the moment to avoid upsetting any of the other residents.

James, a father of two, was born in Lancaster but spent more than 40 years in West Yorkshire working for C and J Clayton where he woodcut bobbins for the textile trade.

He also served in India during World War Two as part of the medical staff for the Burma campaign.

Barbara, a mother of three, was born in Leeds and has lived in the area all her life.

She was a seamstress at Old Mill on Queen Street in Leeds for the majority of her working life.

And while James is looking forward to the big day, she admits to some trepidation.

She said: "I think I will be a bag of nerves on the day. I'm looking forward to getting it over and done with."

Said James: "We just wanted some happiness. We shared a lot of time together and then just thought why not make it official. Age doesn't make any difference at all."

Added Barbara: "I love him, simple as that."