Childhood sweethearts who dressed up as bride and groom aged four celebrate their platinum anniversary 87 YEARS after the picture was taken Ron and Eileen Everest celebrate 70 years of marriage The couple were born in same hospital and family became firm friends This photo was taken when couple were 4, on way to a local carnival They affectionately call it their first 'wedding rehearsal' Standing awkwardly, swamped in their formal wedding attire, Ron and Eileen Everest pose as four year-olds - dressed in their best and on the way to a local carnival. Some 87-years later, the couple are still side by side, as they celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary almost nine decades after this family photograph was taken The pair - whose fathers served together in the Great War - were born seven months apart in the same hospital ward in Gillingham, Kent, and were inseparable as children. Standing awkwardly, swamped in their formal wedding attire, four-year-old Ron and Eileen Everest (left) prepare to got a local carnival. 87 years later they've celebrated their 70th anniversary (right) Chief Petty Officers Thomas Everest and Colin Campbell met in the Royal Navy and as they both lived in Kent they and their wives became firm friends. Ronald was born to Thomas and his wife, Gertrude, in August 1921. Just seven months later Colin's wife, Kate, gave birth to baby Eileen in the same labour ward. The young pair became inseparable over the next four years as they played together day in day out, Ron always protective of his slightly younger chum. The cherished family photograph -taken in 1926 -has fondly become known as their 'wedding rehearsal'. The pair (pictured here on their wedding day in 1943) - whose fathers served together in the Great War - were born seven months apart in the same hospital ward in Gillingham, Kent, and soon because inseparable Dressed up in a dark suit, light waistcoat, white gloves and black shoes, poor Ron's trousers are a little too short and a huge top hat is perched on his head. Eileen, proud as a peacock in her wedding dress and dainty white shoes, is all but swamped by her headdress and bouquet. She's clutching her favourite Teddy while crooking her right hand through Ron's left arm. But it was to be the last time she was to see her childhood sweetheart before they were separated for the rest of their childhood. The Everests, from Beetley, near Dereham, Norfolk, celebrated their Platinum wedding on Wednesday. The young pair were inseparable as young children. As they played together day in day out, Ron always protective of his slightly younger chum Mrs Everest: 'Our parents decided to dress us as a bride and groom for the Gillingham Carnival,~ said Eileen. We were only four years old but I still remember that day so well. Our mothers were both good with a needle so they made the costumes and we walked all round Gillingham in them. But that was the last time I saw Ron. Eileen's parents moved the family to Greenwich, south-east London. A decade later they moved back to Welling, Kent, while Ron's family had settled in nearby Gravesend after a stint in Scotland. Mrs Everest said: 'Nobody had telephones in their homes in those days. 'But when I was 18 I started work and there was a telephone and I really wanted to ring someone but didn't know anyone to call. I asked my mother and she suggested her friend, Gertrude, who ran a shop and post office. 'I rang her up and, of course, it was Ron's mother. She came over to visit me, without Ron at first, and then he came later. Mr Everest, who followed his father into the navy at just 15, admitted that as a teenager he was initially nervous of courting the beautiful young woman with whom he had been reunited. But the handsome young sailor started writing to her from his naval barracks and finally plucked up the courage to ask out the apple of his eye. Mrs Everest admits: 'I still have that letter.' After their friendship had been rekindled - the young couple fell head over heels in love and soon were engaged in 1940, a year after the Second World War erupted, plunging Europe back in to the bloodiest conflict of all time. Mr and Mrs Everest (nee Campbell) were family friends united by their fathers. Chief Petty Officers Thomas Everest and Colin Campbell met in the Royal Navy and as they both lived in Kent they and their wives became firm friends and fell pregnant at the same time They had to put their wedding on hold as Ron was sent to fight the Japanese in the Far East in 1941 before joining the Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union. The Royal Navy officer spent two years away from home, with just one letter every few weeks getting through to his sweetheart back home. 1917: Thomas Everest and Colin Campbell meet and become close friends as Chief Petty Officers in the Royal Navy, serving together in the First World War August 1921: Ronald Norman Everest is born to Thomas and Gertrude Everest at Royal Naval maternity hospital in Gillingham, Kent March 1922: Eileen Campbell is born to Colin and Kate Campbell at the same hospital 1926: They go, aged four, to Gillingham Carnival dressed as a bride and groom 1926: Eileen and her family move to Greenwich, south-east London 1936: Ron joins the Royal Navy as a lad of 15 1940: Ron and Eileen meet up again after Eileen contacts his mother on her new telephone ~ they get engaged 1941: Ron goes out to fight the Japanese in the Far East before helping to escort the legendary Russian convoys 1943: He returns from overseas on June 7 and five days later the couple are married at St John's Church, Welling, Kent 1986: They move to Norfolk June 12, 2013: They celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary Meanwhile, his feisty fiance admits was getting into hot water with the War Office for refusing to work in a war factory making radar equipment as she 'didn't fancy it'. She said: 'They told me I might go to prison if I didn't take the job so I had to. I was quite naughty in those days! When her fiance returned in June 1943, their wedding - arranged within just five days - was held at St John's Church in Welling. A wedding report in their local Kent paper described her 'blue dress and bolero jacket with a spray of orchids.' And another added, 'it ties together two families who have been friends for 25 years and forges a stronger bond between two fathers'. Mrs Everest recalls: 'Ron had £50 in his pocket and holes in his shoes. 'Luckily I soon got pregnant and then I didn't have to go back to the factory.' The Everests moved to Norfolk from Kent in 1986 to be near their only daughter, Carol, and her family. Mrs Everest said: 'It is quite an unusual story, especially these days, but we have got on well together most of the time.' As for her beloved husband, he revealed his good humoured secret for such a long and successful fairytale marriage: 'We promised to love, honour and obey - and I did all the obeying.'