The childhood sweethearts who got together in their 70s

Bill and Anne pictured at their joint 80th birthday party

Bill and Anne Black were 13 when they first set eyes on each other at high school.

But life took them in separate directions until they finally got together and walked down the aisle 64 years later.

Their inspiring love story features in BBC Scotland documentary Life on the Bay, which is set on the Fife coast.

It follows the couple as they relive their childhood and also takes in their joint 80th birthday party at the Bay Hotel in Burntisland.

But the most poignant moment is when Anne reads a letter that a shy teenage Bill wrote and passed to her friend to deliver.

Bill wrote a love letter to Anne when he was 13

It read: "Dear Ann (sic), Catherine Renton tells me that you are thinking of going out with me.

"I like the bit 'thinking of'. It must have taken you strength and dignity to say it.

"I have been mad about you for years.

"I am still crazy about you, Ann (sic), and I would like to know how you feel about me.

"I will have to finish now as Mr Christie (the headteacher) is about to leave us.

"Yours forever, William Black

"PS - Please reply (Eternity will not efface thy image)"

Bill joined the Merchant Navy after he left school

Anne, who forgave Bill for misspelling her name, recalled that she had to get the bus from Kinghorn to the school in Bill's home town of Burntisland.

She told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "From day one when I went there I fancied him.

"He used to stand at the wall and eye me up and down.

"We just had this feel about each other. We just fancied each other."

"He had jet black hair at that time. He's got none now."

Bill admitted he was "too slow" to make any further advances at school and "just hovered around".

Bill and Anne eventually tied the knot at the age of 77

Despite the mutual attraction they went their separate ways after school and Bill joined the Merchant Navy.

He later moved to Australia, where he lived for 25 years.

Bill was in his early 70s when he returned to Fife for a golf outing and bumped into Anne's friend, Janice, in The Ship restaurant in Kinghorn.

He asked: "Whatever happened to Anne Bell?"

Janice revealed she was due to meet her later that week and invited Bill along.

He joked: "The rest is history - without the detail!

"We were both pleased to see each other.

"We could have looked like anything but we both looked ok, I guess."

Bill takes Anne to the site of the former High Binn village, where he lived until he was seven years old

They kept in touch and rekindled their romance.

Anne said: "It was natural. We had no inhibitions or anything.

"It was just like the 60 years had gone past and we just fell into each other.

"No embarrassment, no nothing. We just got on fine."

The couple eventually married at the age of 77.

In the programme, which is now in its third series, Bill takes Anne to the site of his childhood home in the former High Binn village, above Burntisland.

The cameras also follow Anne as she enjoys a game of badminton with friends and capture footage of Bill on the golf course.

Anne said: "Neither of us think of each other at the age we are.

"I could knock 20 years off quite easily and he is the same.

"Life is for living."

Their joint 80th birthday celebration also features in the latest episode.

In his speech, Bill joked: "Anybody would think that all we do is party - and they would be right!"

The latest episode of Life of the Bay will be screened on the BBC Scotland channel at 20:00 on 22 May and is available now on BBC iPlayer