A COUPLE who have shared passions for a spectrum of interests since they were children are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary with a party at their home.

Eric Rowland, who has lived in Borrowby all his life, and his wife, Dorothy, who moved to the village near Northallerton from Sandhutton, near Thirsk, aged three, said their long and happy marriage stemmed from companionship.

Mr Rowland, whose career included him working on a farm and as a decorator as his wife worked as a carer, said: “We have always done everything together and are good at working together.”

He said one of their proudest moments had been winning a Royal Horticultural Society medal for onions they grew, while they had also researched and written two books on the village’s history.

The couple, both 81, wed in St Mary’s Church, Leake, and have three children and two grandchildren.