THE woman whose 80-year marriage entered the record books has died, aged 102.

Florence Arrowsmith died on Monday almost two years after her beloved husband Percy passed away.

Just two weeks before Percy died, aged 105, the couple had set the world record for the longest marriage when they celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary in their Hereford home.

News of their amazing relationship spread across the four corners of the globe and made the centenarians part-time celebrities.

Their daughter, Daphne Sayce, said her mother was not entirely shy when it came to facing the media.

"She really enjoyed all the fuss being made," she said. "In fact you could say she basked in the attention."

Florence, known as Flo, was born in Bristol and moved to Hereford with her parents during the First World War. She worked in Lewis Smith chemists and as a Sunday School teacher - and it was in the church that she met Percy.

The couple were married at All Saints Church in 1925 and soon moved to a semi-detached house in Breinton Road, which they never left.

Daphne said her mother missed Percy when he died but she was determined to remain independent and remained in the family home with the support of family and district nurses until her death.

The record-breaking couple had a son, Peter, who died in October, and a foster daughter, Jane. Florence is also survived by six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

And her great-great-grandaughter will ensure Flo's memory will live on. The little girl, born in October, is called Florence.