LIFE has taken on a more harmonious note for Liphook piano tuner Joe Cripps and he says he has The Herald to thank for it.

For Joe answered an advertisement in The Herald and a decade later to the day, he married the woman who wrote it.

"I went round to a friend's house for supper in the summer of l991," Joe explained.

"My wife had just left me and I was feeling pretty glum.

"I was sitting with my chin in my hands staring at the table in his kitchen. I realised I was looking at an open page of The Herald and my eye fell on the Perfect Partners column.

"I had never done anything like that before, but I thought 'I've got nothing to lose', so I wrote a letter."

Joe delivered his letter to The Herald in Haslemere and shortly afterwards Mary Harrison, a teacher who lived at Camelsdale, rang him.

They arranged to meet at the Kings Arms in Fernhurst on August 15.

Ten years later the couple were married.

"We wanted to have a bigger celebration with a church blessing as well," said Joe, "so we waited until the families could join us this month and had a church service at St Mary's in Bramshott."

Joe is a keen bell ringer and now Mary has taken it up to keep him company. In return Joe has started playing tennis, a sport close to Mary's heart.

"The way we met was extraordinary," said Joe."Mary had never written an advertisement like that before and was persuaded to do so by a friend, so she has her friend to thank.

"I must thank my friend who left The Herald open on the kitchen table and we both have The Herald to thank for providing the service."