THE festive period will see a double celebration for Drax couple Arthur and Marjorie Smith this year.

Today the couple, who have lived in the village all their married life, celebrate their diamond wedding.

The couple first met while they were working at Wrays Farm in Rusholme, when Arthur was helping his father, Fred, do threshing and Marjorie, who was in the Women’s Land Army, was working on the farm.

“I liked the look of him, he was very friendly and I saw him a a ray of sunshine,” said Marjorie, who was from Leeds.

Their first date was a trip to the cinema in Goole, and after a 30-month courtship they were married at Selby Register office and honeymooned in Blackpool. “It was a very frosty day, similar to the weather we are having now,” said Arthur.

Marjorie, who delivered milk in the village for 17 years, one of her biggest customers being Drax Power Station, is a keen dancer, attending three dances every week in the area.

Arthur, a keen steam engine and tractor fan, worked for 14 years at Lancasters’ farm, and for 30 years was a driver and mechanic at Alfred Sykes Haulage in Camblesforth and also drove their Atlas coaches. The couple will celebrate with a dinner and dance at Drax Club with 100 guests. Marjorie said “true grit” was the recipe for a long marriage.