Jim and Yvonne are golden couple

Their anniversary is on Saturday June 28 and they will be enjoying a family party in the evening.

Jim, now 86, was born in Gravesend but moved to Bexhill when he was four years old. When he was 13 his family moved to Bodle Crescent and lived next door to Yvonne's family, the Colemans.

Yvonne, who is 77, was just four years old at that time.

Jim was called up and served in the army at 20 years old and on his release in 1946 joined the London Fire Brigade. He then went on to work as an engineer on tugs on the River Thames or in shipyards. He became ill with lung disease and spent 11 months in a TB ward in hospital.

Times were hard when he came out to no job or security and he moved back to Bexhill where he found work as a bus driver and then Elva racing cars then based next to the York Hotel. It was at this point he learned from Yvonne's mother that she was in hospital suffering TB and he decided to take some flowers. He took a bouquet and the rest is history - they married at Springfield Road Methodist Church and had a reception at the Sussex Hotel in Sidley - they still have a receipt for the party which cost almost 34, including extra drinks for the 54 adults who were there, as well as six children.

Jim and Yvonne had three children - Rosalyn, Nigel, and Barry - and live in Calgary Road.

Jim has enjoyed many interests and admits he is always on the go - he became a professional photographer having discovered talent as an amateur, and set up his own business concentrating on portrait work and photographing weddings. He also founded the junior section of Bexhill Sea Angling Club - his older son Nigel now lives in Norway and is still a keen fisherman.

When their youngest child was 4, Yvonne started doing evening work at a small hair-roller factory in Victoria Road, then moved on to work at the Ardath nursing home. She retired at 60.