LAUGHING is the key to happiness for a Basingstoke couple who are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

Peggy and Bill Robertson tied the knot 60 years ago today at St John’s Church in Stratford Broadway, East London.

The couple met two years earlier at a friend’s 21st birthday party, but Peggy said she made Bill work to win her affection.

The 82-year-old added: “I didn’t like him at first! He had to work hard.”

But 92-year-old Bill said the chase was worth it, adding: “My wife was beautiful, that’s why I married her.”

The pair married in Bill’s church, because the vicar at Peggy’s church refused to conduct the service unless she changed her name to Margaret.

Peggy explained: “My church wouldn’t marry me unless I was christened Margaret because they wouldn’t recognise Peggy as a name. I didn’t want to change my name!”

Peggy and Bill went on a honeymoon to the Isle of Wight, before looking for a place to live.

Peggy said: “We thought it was time to find a place of our own. We didn’t like what we saw in London and I saw a little advert in the national paper and it said ‘why not come to Basingstoke?’”

The couple moved to Cranbourne where they have stayed ever since, living in the town for 57 years. They went on to have three children Philip, 56, Terry, 55 and Derek, 51, and now have three grandchildren.

Bill worked as a blacksmith for companies including Thornycroft, Haskins and Jacksons, where he stayed for around 30 years.

After bringing up their children, Peggy worked as a dinner lady at St John’s Primary School, in Cranbourne.

Asked what is the secret to a happy marriage, Peggy said: “We laugh a lot. If he upsets me or I upset him we don’t talk for five minutes and then we start laughing.”

Bill added: “You have got to enjoy yourself, don’t be a miserable person.”