A love match in Maida Vale

They served jointly as Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress from 1997 to 1998.

The couple met in July 1958 when Mr Raymond-Cox's boss invited them both to a tennis party.

Mr Raymond-Cox, 80, said: "I picked up Pip and her sister Antoinette in my car as we lived near each other in Maida Vale. It rained all day and not a stroke of tennis was played, but we like to say it was a 'love match' instead."

He proposed in his car just four weeks later, and they were married in December at St Mark's Church, in Prince Albert Road, St John's Wood.

Mrs Raymond-Cox, 72, said: "It was such an exciting day that it was like we were both in a dream. As we were shaking hands with our guests, I was shaking so much I didn't even recognise one of my own aunts."

Mr Raymond-Cox served in the army and worked for a computer company, before taking up a post as a Westminster councillor for Maida Vale ward from 1990 to 2006.

His wife became chairman of the council's race relations committee, but was forced to give up work as she began suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Since then, wheelchair-bound herself, she has campaigned for better access for disabled people to places such as hotels.

Both served as school governors for St Saviour's Primary School, in Shirland Road, North Paddington, and Mrs Raymond-Cox also served as governor for Paddington Green Primary School, in Park Place Villas, Paddington.

The husband and wife now have three daughters - Fiona, Alison and Elspeth - and four granddaughters.

Mrs Raymond-Cox believes working closely together for so many years has helped them stay together.

She said: "We put it down to 'super glue', because we will always stick together.

"For some of my work I had to be abroad, and I certainly found that absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Mr Raymond-Cox added: "Keeping really active helps a long life."