A COUPLE who kept children safe on the way to and from school for almost half-a-century between them have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Joan and Ronnie Howard both worked as school crossing patrols at Copeland Road Primary School, in West Auckland, County Durham.

Mrs Howard, 87, helped children cross Copeland Road for 39 years, the last nine of which her husband crossed pupils over Staindrop Road.

Before that Mr Howard, 89, worked as a trolley porter at Morrisons, in Bishop Auckland, and previously as a miner at Brusselton while Mrs Howard worked in a shop.

The couple met at a dance in West Auckland and went on to marry at the former Primitive Methodist Chapel and have lived in the same house in the village ever since.

They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Thursday, July 16 on holiday near Fleetwood, Lancashire, and when they returned were presented with a bouquet by the chairman of West Auckland Parish Council Hazel Charlton.

Mrs Howard said: “We’ve never had a lot of money but always been good friends, he’s been lovely to me and we’ve worked through everything together.

“It was lovely to celebrate all those years after our wedding.”