Love still blooms for diamond couple

Within a fortnight of speaking to each other for the first time, the couple were engaged and their whirlwind romance is still as strong as ever as they celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary last Thursday.

The couple, of Greenside, Featherstone, met at the Alexander Picture House in Pontefract.

Mr Roberts, 81, said: “I fell for her straight away. She was with her friends and I asked one of them if Sylvia would go out with me.”

The pair wed a week before Christmas 1954 at Pontefract Register Office.

Mr Roberts worked in a variety of jobs including as a pit worker and a bus driver.

His wife, 80, left her job at a liquorice factory after they married.

The couple have two children, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at the B&S Club in Wilson Street, Featherstone, on Saturday.

Mr Roberts also surprised his wife by giving her a large bouquet of flowers.

When asked the secret of their long and happy marriage, he said: “We did not go out because we could not afford it.

“We enjoyed each others company and that’s what mattered most.”