A WELL-KNOWN Stamford Bridge couple are celebrating 50 years of marriage today.

Bryan and Patricia Lawson will mark their golden anniversary with a family party in the town.

Bryan, 75, originally from Surrey, and Pat, 76, who was born in south London, met while she taught at a school in Buckinghamshire, where Bryan was a social worker.

They moved to East Yorkshire in 1975 when Bryan was offered a job at Stockton Hall Community School, in Stockton-on-the-Forest.

The couple both worked at the school until its closure in 1988, Bryan as senior staff and Pat as a teacher of home economics. Bryan led an advocacy group at Stockton Hall Hospital for nine years, was a football referee for 30 years and is a regular correspondent in The Press.

In 2006, he founded Stamford Bridge In Bloom, to plant and maintain flowerbeds and hanging baskets in the village.

He said: “I wanted to raise the image of the village. At first the council said it wouldn’t work, but I got together with a few others and it’s been really successful so far. In our second year we won a Silver Gilt Award in the Yorkshire In Bloom competition.”

Meanwhile, Pat has raised the couple’s five children; Carol, Susan, David, Michael and Wendy, who all live in York.

She is a grandmother to 13 grandchildren, who range from a one-year-old to 21 years old.

Bryan is a retired Anglican lay reader and continues to be busy with the church and Pat is sacristan at Holy Trinity Church in Stockton-on-the-Forest. Bryan said: “God has certainly helped us remain a strong and happy couple. He has a tremendous influence on our lives and on our marriage.”