A DUNKIRK veteran and his Aycliffe Angel have celebrated their sapphire wedding anniversary.

It is 65 years since Wilf and Ella Haygarth, of Church Street, Helmington Row, married at St Paul's Church, Hunwick, near Crook.

The couple had been going out together for three years after meeting at a dance in the village in 1935 - but it could have been so different, after a young Mrs Haygarth stood up her future husband on their first date.

Mr Haygarth, 90, said: "She just didn't turn up. But I still asked her again.''

Eighteen months after they were married, war was declared and Mr Haygarth was sent to France with the Royal Artillery.

Mrs Haygarth, 87, said: "It was awful to be separated. I had to go and work at the munitions factory in Newton Aycliffe because we did not have a family at the time, and we had to have rations for everything. But we just accepted it and got on with life.''

Mr Haygarth was evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk and sent to fight in Burma. His wife was not to see him for more than three years and she did not even know whether he was alive.

He returned home to work as a miner in some of the region's pits, including Brancepeth, Sunnybrow and Middridge.

The couple had a son, Derek, and daughter, Christine, and are now the grandparents of Stephen and Jayne. For their anniversary celebration they were joined by relatives for a family tea.