Diamond wedding celebrations for Sutterton couple, 60 years after making it onto a newspaper's front page

A Sutterton couple whose wedding made the front page of the Lincolnshire Free Press 60 years ago have shared the secrets of their "wonderful life" together.

Douglas (83) and Doreen Drakard (80) were married at St Peter and St Paul's Church, Gosberton, in August 1959, nearly three years on from first meeting after a dance night in the same village.

The Drakards, who have two sons, three granddaughters and a grandson, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary with a garden party at their countryside home where they welcomed family and friends.

Douglas, a churchwarden at St Laurence's in Surfleet for nearly 45 years, said: "In 1956, I joined the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment to do my National Service in Malaya (now Malaysia and Singapore).

"But due to the Suez Crisis in Eqypt, our draft was sent home on Christmas Eve and after a 32-hour flight, I arrived home in Surfleet at 4pm on Boxing Day.

"Then on December 28, I went to a dance at Gosberton Public Hall where I saw Doreen.

"But I didn't make contact with her until I was cycling home with my mates which was when she came riding past us.

"I said to my mates 'I'm off' before catching up with Doreen to escort her home.

"We made an arrangement to meet up and our first date was to go to an evensong service at Spalding Parish Church.

"Things developed nicely from then on and Doreen became the love of my life quite quickly.

"Our relationship carried on, with Doreen living in Gosberton and myself in Surfleet, and we decided to get engaged in March 1959 before our marriage at Gosberton Parish Church in August the same year.

"We had a four-day honeymoon in London and when we came back, I was working in the field when a lady came out of her house and said: 'There's a picture of you and your wife in the paper.'"

Doreen, who worked at George Adams and Sons Butchers in Spalding for at least 20 years, said: "When I first met him, Douglas was nice and we just seemed to get on because we both liked the same sort of things.

"We used to go to church in Gosberton where I worked in a little village shop called Worthington's for some years.

"It's wonderful to think that we've reached this point in our lives together and we've been very lucky."

The Drakards received anniversary cards from, amongst others, The Queen and members of St Laurence's Church where they were also presented with a cake.

Douglas, a vegetable grower in Sutterton, said: "Me and Doreen have laughed together quite a lot and we've worked together over the years as well.

"The older we get, the more we've found ourselves thinking alike and it's been a wonderful life that we've spent together."