A COUPLE who have brought the news to their community are making the headlines themselves as they celebrate 60 years of marriage.

Jack and Olga Hedley are well-known in Eldon Lane where they have served behind the counter of Hedley's store, which they have run since 1946.

Mrs Hedley, 82, only stopped working at the store, which is now run by her son Chris and daughter Barbara, two years ago. Mr Hedley, 85, had to finish work in his Fifties after suffering a stroke.

The couple were married at Eldon Lane Church on February 9, 1943, after securing a special licence.

Mr Hedley had six days leave and had proposed to his wife, the girl he met in 1937, by letter while serving with the Royal Engineers in France.

They spent their honeymoon in Darlington and after just four days together Mr Hedley was off to the Middle East, promising he'd be back on leave in a month.

One year and nine months later her returned home and met his one-year-old son Christopher for the first time. Mr Hedley was allowed a month's leave with his wife and son before heading back to the Middle-East.

He did not see them again until he was de-mobbed in February 1946 and the war was over.

Mrs Hedley had lived with her grandmother from the age of 15 and helped run her shop, which was in the front room of her home in Spencer Street, Eldon Lane.

When Mr Hedley returned his wife's grandmother had died and the shop had been sold. The couple were asked to run it and later bought the store back in 1946. Since then they have been pillars of the community serving generations of the same families over the years.

Mrs Hedley said: "The love and respect I get from people in the community has been worth all the work.''

The couple enjoyed their Diamond celebrations surrounded by family and friends including their four children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild at a lunch at Redworth Hall Hotel.