A COUPLE who met in a bus shelter outside Rowntree's in York during the Second World War are retracing their steps during their Diamond Wedding celebrations.

Benny Lynch, 82, saw Margaret waiting in the shelter outside the chocolate factory in 1942, and approached her for a light.

True love blossomed and the couple married in St Wilfrid's Church in February 1943, because Benny was to be posted abroad.

Now they are hoping to revisit the bus shelter today, and sit together during their special day.

Margaret, 78, said: "We went back there just to sit for a while on our Golden Wedding and then to St Wilfrid's Church for a blessing."

Benny was one of the first troops to enter the Belsen concentration camp, and ended his wartime service in Berlin.

The pair worked at Rowntree's before retirement.

Margaret added: "It's good to reach 60 years together. We've really just learned to live with each other. We have differences of opinion but we never fall out."

They hope to celebrate the day with friends and family. They have two daughters, Barbara, 58, Theresa, 55, and a son Michael, 47. They have five grandchildren, Paul, Robert, Claire, Kelly and Faye, and three great-grandchildren, Yasmin, Paige and Jaye.

Updated: 10:19 Thursday, February 27, 2003