A COUPLE from North Yorkshire are celebrating a significant milestone in their marriage today after notching up an impressive 70 years of marriage.

Eric and Maud Durham first met 76 years ago when singing in the choir together at St Peter's Church at Laxton, near Howden.

Six years later, on February 5, 1938, the couple tied the knot in that same church where they had first laid eyes on each other.

The couple were just teenagers when they met, and Eric said he knew as soon as he set eyes on Maud, she was the one.

"I first met Maud when we were in the choir together and when I saw her I immediately wanted to court her. We dated for six years until we got married at the same church where we first met."

The couple moved to Station View, at Church Fenton, in their first year of marriage and have lived there for the 70 years of their marriage.

Mr Durham, 93, spent all his working life on the railways and Mrs Durham, 92, looked after the family.

Since the age of 15, Mr Durham has also been a bee-keeper and to this day still daily supplies local residents with honey.

The couple have one son, David, and two grandchildren, Mark and Susannah.

When asked the secret to their long marriage, Mr Durham said "We have been very, very happy together. I guess our secret is making sure we clear the air before we go to bed every night. We have never slept on any bad feelings towards each other."

The couple will be celebrating the quite rare platinum anniversary with friends of their close-knit community.

Mr Durham said: "On our diamond wedding, ten years ago, the vicar and 16 of our neighbours threw us a surprise dinner, so we thought for our 70th anniversary we would ask the same people to come round to our house for drinks and cake."

The couple celebrated the milestone with a special family dinner where they were joined by their son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren and their partners.

A neighbour of Eric and Maud said the couple make the perfect neighbours.

He said: "I came here to live about a year ago and this community is fantastic. In particular, Eric and Maud have become very good friends and I care a lot about them. They are very friendly and they have a constant stream of visitors.

"They have the right attitude in life, they are happy and fulfilled - all-in-all the perfect couple."