A COUPLE who met at a dance in the Assembly Rooms in York are today celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

Jean then asked her husband-to-be and apprentice plumber Ray Theakston for a ride in his Austin trials car.

“I built the car myself with an Austin 32 chassis and put in a Ford 10 engine,” Mr Theakston, of Haxby, said. “It was what you did in those days to get the car you wanted.”

Two years later the couple were married in St Lawrence’s Church as Mrs Theakston lived in Heslington Road.

“It has been a fantastic 60 years and we have done everything together,” Mr Theakston said.

“We play golf and after I retired, aged 59, from running my plumbing and heating business we sailed around the Mediterranean for ten years, including places like Syria and Lebanon that you can’t go to now, and Israel. We were born at the right time.”

Mrs Theakston is 81, a retired teacher from Westfield School in Acomb, and her husband is 85.

He puts their fitness and health down to all those years eating salads and olive oil in warm climates.

They say their long marriage is due to simply loving one another.

The couple had two children - a son, Mark, and their daughter Jane who died from cancer five years ago.

They also have two grandchildren, three step grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

The couple, who honeymooned in the Lake District and still enjoy walking, hope to make a return visit sometime this year to mark their marital milestone.

They are also planning a family party to celebrate.