A COUPLE from Dunnington will be welcoming friends to their home today as they celebrate 60 years of marriage.

Ernest and Irene Astley met in their teens in the small village of Cross Roads cum Lees, near Keighley.

After Mr Astley completed three years in the RAF, including time in occupied Japan, the couple were married in 1951. At the time Mr Astley, 83, was working in engineering and has wife, 82, worked for a silk manufacturer in West Yorkshire.

The pair moved to York after Mr Astley was made redundant and took a job with a York ladder manufacturer, though he later returned to engineering while his wife raised their three sons.

The pair are now looking forward to being taken out by their family on Saturday, but admit they will be keeping things quiet.

Mr Astley said: “We celebrated our silver wedding and our golden wedding and both our 80th birthdays so we’ve had enough celebrating.”

He said the secret to reaching their diamond anniversary today was “pulling the same way and pulling together. Share and care.”