LIFE is sweet for Alf and Christine Douglas as they mark 50 happy years of marriage this weekend.

Not only do the couple reach their golden wedding anniversary on Sunday, but next week they mark 55 years of selling ice creams around York.

Alf, now 73, has sold hundreds and thousands of hundreds of thousands on his rounds in Acomb, Woodthorpe, Dringhouses, Chapelfields and Foxwood, while Christine, 71, is the vital support staff keeping the van going.

The couple met 56 years ago, when Christine worked at Boots on Coney Street and Alf, then a painter and decorator, was working across the road fitting out the Woolworths store.

They got engaged when Christine was 18, and married three years later at St Joseph's Church in Tadcaster before a reception at Riley Smith Hall.

They have stayed in their home in Tadcaster for the last 50 years raising their three children, Christopher, Karen and Karl, and now live close to their 11 grandchildren and one great grand-daughter.

Alf said: "We have had some rows. I'm not going to pretend we agree on everything, but we always try to have a laugh afterwards and we don't take it to heart. We are close to our grandchildren and as soon as they come around that makes everything worthwhile."

Alf's ice cream rounds have seen him serve generations of the same families, and made sure he is a well-known face around York.

"I love my job because of the customers. I love kids. I might be feeling a bit down when I go out, but as soon as I see the kids that puts a smile on my face.

"They wave at me, and call me Curly because I used to have curly black hair. I don't have much left now, but it's my nickname and it's been passed down from grandmas to mums to the children."

On Sunday, Alf and Christine will celebrate their wedding anniversary with family, but they have no plans to give up work to enjoy retirement soon.

"As long as I am fit and the van is fit, I'll keep going," Alf said.