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The love between a couple who have been together for 73 years is so strong that even dementia cannot break it.

Tommy Rossiter met his wife, Bessie, when he was out dancing at Mrs Bullens, on Kirkdale Road, as a 15-year-old lad.

Now the Norris Green couple have been married for nearly 67 years, have three children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Tommy, who turned 88 on Saturday, said: “It must have been love at first sight after all these years.”

In their retirement, the pair spent their time travelling to the Mediterranean on cruises where they would dance the night away - a shared passion.

But, six years ago, when the couple were on a coach holiday to Yorkshire, Bessie, 90, had an episode of agitation.

Tommy, who worked as a Manweb courier, took Bessie to the doctor the next day, and she was diagnosed with dementia.

Since then, he has never left her side.

Even when Bessie had to stay in hospital for six weeks, Tommy slept on two chairs next to her bed so she wouldn’t be alone.

When she calls out for her mother at night, he holds her until she falls asleep.

Two carers come to their home every morning but Tommy does much of the necessary work himself, even plaiting his wife’s long hair every morning.

His daughter Bessie said: “He treats her like a queen. He always has and he always will.”

Tommy added: “It’s hard, it’s very hard.”

“But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I adore her. I don’t know how to explain it. We’ve had a brilliant life, brilliant. We’ve never been apart.”

Tommy won’t be doing anything special to celebrate his birthday because Bessie “doesn’t know what’s happening.”

But his advice for any other couples who are seeking a happy, loving marriage is: “Share and share alike and don’t have any secrets between each other. Just be together all the while. Wherever we go, we’ll always be together.”