A COUPLE have been sent a card by the new King and Queen Consort to congratulate them as they celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary.

Kathleen and Peter Rhodes, of Bolton Percy, near Tadcaster, were both born in Little Fenton, near Tadcaster, and grew up there, and got married at St Mary’s Church, Church Fenton, in February 1963.

That was in the middle of one of the UK’s harshest winters of the 20th century, with snow lying in the churchyard.

"We didn't worry about snow and got trains with no problems - Bristol to Church Fenton, then a train to London and our first ever flight to Paris," said Kathleen. "The optimism of youth, I suppose!"

She said Peter was 22 the day before the wedding and she was 19.

They went on to have three daughters, Julia, Alison and Sally, and seven grandchildren.

Peter trained initially as an aeronautical engineer at Brough but in 1970 the couple moved to Zambia, where their third daughter was born.

This 'big adventure' was followed by a spell in South Africa before finally settling down in Bolton Percy, with Peter finding employment in the Design Engineering Drawing Office at Rowntrees in York, which later became Nestlé.

The couple celebrated their anniversary with a break at Ullswater and then a trip to South Africa.