A FORMER policeman and his wife have celebrated 60 years of marriage.

Douglas and Ruth Smith met in 1938 in Mr Smith's home town of Hull.

They got engaged in the summer of 1942 and were married in St Stephen's Church, Willington, near Bishop Auckland, on December 18, 1943, while they were both still in the armed forces.

They came back on leave for the ceremony, Mrs Smith from her post in Nottingham and Mr Smith from Scotland, where he was serving with the Royal Signals Corps, attached to the 52 Lowland Division.

Mrs Smith said: "I had 21 days off, but he only had ten, so I went back with him to Scotland for Christmas and New Year."

After the war, Mr Smith joined Durham Police and the couple moved back home.

Mrs Smith said: "In those days, wives were policemen as well. Our house was the police station and there were people in and out all the time."

She came up with an ingenious way of reaching her husband when he was out on the beat in the dales.

Mrs Smith said: "If he was needed urgently for anything, I used to ring round all the call boxes.

"If he heard a public phone ringing, he would answer it, as he knew it would be me trying to reach him."

They moved from post to post, taking in the old divisions of Bishop Auckland, Castle Eden, Whickham and Consett, where the couple live. Mr Smith retired as a sergeant in 1977.

The couple marked their diamond anniversary with a family meal with their sons, Douglas and Billy, daughter Ann Hall and their five grandchildren.