A BOURNEMOUTH couple who met while cycling on their way to work have celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss.

It was love at first sight for Mike and Merle Le Brocq after they cycled past each other on Wimborne Road.

Mr Le Brocq said: “My wife worked at General Accident Insurance and she was cycling down Wimborne Road. I was on my way to work on the other side of the road and we just stopped to chat. We arranged to meet up afterwards and that was that.”

Aged 21 and 20, the couple got married Epiphany Church on Castle Lane on March 27,1954.

“I can still remember it all now. It was lovely,” Mr Le Brocq said.

“I was working at the RAF at the time. We went to Guernsey for our honeymoon and I had to get leave to be allowed to go away.”

After completing his two years National Service he returned to Bournemouth and took up a job at the Daily Echo in the print room. Having worked at the paper for 50 years he now carries the honour of being our longest-serving surviving employee.

The 81-year-old said: “When I came back I worked my way up. I started as a tea boy.”

The couple, who live in Winton, have two children, Christopher and Rosalind, and three grandchildren, Michael, Robert and Ben.