His title is caretaker of the Seaton Village Hall ­— but that does not even hint at the truth.

For a start, Mike Thompson, 68, shares the job equally with his wife, Jean, 66, and secondly, what they do goes as far beyond simply taking care of the hall as it is possible to go.

They have made the hall the heart of the village and this is the couple who ensure that heart continues to beat.

A policeman for more than 26 years and a dog handler for 20, Mike had a stroke in 1996, at the age of only 45, which changed his life.

As much as anything else, he lost a lot of his confidence.

That is why, when he applied for the job of caretaker, he explained that Jean would need to be part of the deal.

He is paid for 12 hours a week. At the moment, Jean said, they would be lucky to do that in lockdown.

Having said that, though, during the last lockdown, when the hall had to be closed, the couple completely redecorated it.

Working with the school PTA and the Seaton Foodbank, they collected and organised more than 500 treats for the village’s over-65s after the annual pensioner dinner had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus. Boxes of food were distributed to vulnerable families.

The couple, working with the PTA put a post box outside the village hall where children could write to Santa. Each child in the village below secondary school age received a gift and Santa’s secretaries, Mike and Jean, answered all the letters ­— and that certainly was not in the job description!

They said they were helped by Dobie’s Charitable Trust, the TDA, Maryport Lions and the Whygill Windfarm committee as well as many individual donations.

The couple have opened the bar in the hall ­— with the help of daughter Michelle and son-in-law Shaun Williams ­— which means the hall now hosts events from Christenings to funerals and everything in between.

This is a couple who have gone out of their way to make their village hall a place to cherish.

“We were going to retire. I am glad we didn’t, because it would be too hard to explain to anyone new about what to do while this pandemic is on, but we will see when it is over," Jean said.