A POOLE couple who have spent most of their working and married lives together have celebrated their diamond wedding.

May and Bernie Westwell ran a post office together in Southampton before moving to Lyndhurst and then settling in Poole in 1995.

After taking early retirement, they took off on their travels and holidayed in America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore and Europe.

Their son Jeff Westwell, who lives in Southampton, said: “I think their secret is they’ve been not just a couple, but friends and soul mates too.

“They have lived simply for each other and they are extremely solid, spending all their working lives together.”

May was born into a farming family in Liverpool and has memories of milking cows and making ice-cream and butter. After leaving school she worked as a shorthand typist before moving to Burnley when her family was bombed out of their home in World War Two.

The pair met at a local ballroom and moved to Southampton in 1967.

May, who is now suffering ill health, now lives at the Castle Dene residential home in Throop Road.