A COUPLE who met as teenagers at a church youth club have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Tom Ayer and his wife, Gertrude, both 82, struck up an immediate friendship when they met at Annfield Plan Central Methodist Church, in Annfield Plain, near Stanley.

Mrs Ayers said: "It was just about love at first sight. It must have been. It has lasted so long."

She added: "A successful relationship takes perseverance, pulling together and the love that you have for each other."

Mr Ayer worked as an estimating draughtsman at Consett Iron Works until it closed, while his wife was a nurse at Villa Real Isolation Hospital in the 1940s, a job she left after she married.

The who couple have lived in Mitchell Street, Annfield Plain, all their married life, were both keen members of Annfield Plain Naturalists.

Mrs Ayer was a member of Derwentside Choral Society for 40 years, while Mr Ayer is still an active member of the Stanley Mens Forum Gospel Choir. He has written local history books on Annfield Plain and Cornsay Colliery.

The couple are keen travellers, having visited Hawaii, Russia, China, Kenya and Canada, among other.

To celebrate 60 years of marriage, they will be taking a cruise from Australia to New Zealand.

They have a son, Tom, 53.