A VALENTINES disco held a big surprise for Lida Delbono when her childhood sweetheart dropped to one knee and proposed.

Thirty-two years after their first date as teenagers, Eric Pickles proposed to Lida on stage at St Joseph's Parish Centre, Barnoldswick, on Saturday.

The engagement completes a fairytale reunion for the couple who also had a 'miracle' son five years ago - after Lida was told she could not have children.

Although they attended different schools, Lida admits she used to admire Eric, 47, from afar. She said: "I used to see him walking past my house and I thought to myself: 'he's quite fanciable!' I knew his brother, he got to know about it and he introduced us."

The love-struck pair then started dating, but the romance was cut short in 1974 when Eric left Barnoldswick to serve in the Royal Navy. He said: "I wasn't running away - I had already signed up so I had to go!"

A sonar and radar operator, Eric's job took him around the world and he lived all over England, while Lida was in a previous marriage for 13 years. But when Eric left the navy, a chance meeting with Lida led to the old flames getting back together and they have now lived together for seven years.

However, 46-year-old Lida said the proposal came as a shock. She said: "I thought he was too scared to marry me because I'm too wild!

"I heard his name being called and I thought: 'What are they doing that for? Is he doing the raffle or something?' Then they called me up and I should have guessed why!"

She added: "I never thought I'd see the day - it will be the wedding of my dreams."

The only people who Eric had let in on his plans were Lida's sisters and, of course, the event's DJ whom he needed to set the scene.

"I was a nervous wreck," he said. "But I managed to say: 'I love you today, tomorrow and forever and will you give me the honour of being my wife?'

"Then I gave her some earrings and a matching bracelet. I think she was disappointed when she saw them, but that's because I already had the ring waiting.

"My life seems to be going around in circles! I've lived all over England and travelled all over the world, but I think I've got all my wandering out of me now so I'm ready to settle down."

Eric and Lida live on Lower Park Street with their five-year-old son Joe, who Lida, after believing she couldn't have children, calls: "My little miracle."

Eric and Lida are hoping to tie the knot in June 2007, with a ceremony at St Joseph's and a bash at the Rolls-Royce social club. They also plan to return to Lida's ancestral roots with a honeymoon in Naples

Lida said: "We've got big plans so we'll need as long as we can get to sort it out!"