A couple from Christchurch have celebrated 60 years of marriage with a party joined by their friends.

Colin, 84, and Thelma Beadle, 83, from Winkton, near Burton, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary with a meal at the Limewood Hotel, followed by a champagne tea party, with a pianist, at a friend’s home.

Mrs Beadle said that she knew that her husband was the man that she wanted to marry as soon as she met him.

She said: “When he asked me to dance, when we were introduced to each other while at a ball, the song ‘Some Enchanted Meeting’ was playing in the background. When I went home and my mother asked how my evening had gone, I told her that I had met the man that I wanted to marry.”

Her husband, Colin, added: “When we met, there were no cars on the road, but I was in the fortunate position that I had been left enough money to buy one, so I offered to take her home and she said ‘yes’.”

Moving on 18-months and the couple were married at a small church service, with Thelma choosing a rented white crinoline dress from Moss Bros and Colin donning a traditional pinstriped suit.

They moved from Kent to Bournemouth in 1980, before living in Bransgore and later retired to Winkton in 1996, where they both say they have been made to feel incredibly welcome by the fellow residents.

Colin said: “It is such a friendly place and there are always people there for you, or welcoming you into their home for meals, which we have never had before.”

Asked what the secret is to a long and happy marriage, they both agreed that newlyweds need to have “tolerance, trust and a sense of humour”.