DIAMOND couple Bobby and Isabel Barron started their wedding anniversary celebrations with a special mass in the church where they were married.

The couple, from Osbourne Terrace, Leeholme, near Bishop Auckland, said "I do" at St Joseph's Church, Coundon, on February 13, 1944.

Mr Barron, now 80, was working at Leasingthorne Pit at the time and his wife, now 79, worked at Woods Bakery, in Coundon.

They went on to have three children, David, Derek and Sandra and have lived in their terraced home for 46 years.

Mrs Barron said: "We met at a dance in Leasingthorne. Bobby was a good dancer, far better than me. We used to enjoy dancing.''

Theirs has been a happy union and they are now looking forward to celebrating 60 years of marriage surrounded by their three children, four grandchildren and their partners. Mrs Barron said: "We have been so lucky. We have a lovely family and we are very close. We have four great-grandchildren and they are lovely''

Mr Barron added: "We have never fallen out. There are few arguments. We never go out or go to bed cross with each other. We have had a lot of fun at one time or another.''