TIMES were hard for Hilda and Albert Boughey when they got married 50 years ago.

So much so, that after a simple wedding ceremony, they toasted their health with a cup of Oxo in their local tea shop.

So this weekend, to celebrate their golden wedding, their family surprised them with a cuppa in the same shop -only this time they had a more lavish party to round the day off.

Mrs Boughey, of Chester-le-Street, County Durham, said: "Having toasted to our health with an Oxo has always been a huge joke with us. We have all laughed at it over the years.

"So it was a very special surprise to be taken to the same caf -Citroene -to start the celebrations for our golden wedding anniversary."

Mrs Boughey, 72, was originally married to her husband's younger brother, Ronnie.

They had a young daughter, Julie, but he died in March 1953.

Mrs Boughey said: "Albert was the godfather to my daughter, who was only seven months old, and he was my brother-in-law.

"After his brother died, Albert used to live in lodgings at the bottom of town and would come up to see me three times a week to make sure everything was fine.

"We started going out together and things happened from there. We just clicked.

"He liked the idea that he could be a godfather, uncle and father all rolled into one.

"It was a simple wedding in the registry office with two witnesses. We had no money for flowers and did not have any bridesmaids.

"It was freezing cold, so we decided to have an Oxo."

The couple had a daughter, Susan Brooke.