CHILDHOOD sweethearts who celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on New Year’s Day say they remember their wedding as if it was ‘yesterday’.

Shirley and Gordon Stubbington, of Highlands Road, commemorated 60 years of marriage.

Mrs Stubbington said: “We were engaged to be married and he asked for my dad’s permission if we could get married before he went in the army so I could get the marriage allowance.

“And my dad said yes and hence we had three weeks to plan the wedding.

“It was a beautiful wedding, it seems like it was yesterday.”

The couple even kept the top tier of their wedding cake for the age-old tradition of using it as their first child’s christening cake.

Her 79-year-old husband agreed, saying: “It’s strange how it works, you can’t remember what you did yesterday but you can remember what happened 60 years ago.”

Mr and Mrs Stubbington were both born, bred and married in Nether Whallop, where they also had their two children.

They first met when they were around eight years old, got together in their midteens, and “haven’t been apart since”.

Mrs Stubbington worked on a turkey farm while her husband was apprenticing to be a carpenter.

Mr Stubbington moved on to a job working maintenance at Wallop Airdrome when he was called up for national service.

The couple said they wrote to each other everyday he was not at home and kept the letters until they were accidentally thrown out while moving home.

He served two years with The Dorsets, as permanent staff, playing cricket, boxing and football for the regiment before leaving a lance corporal.

Mrs Stubbington gave up work once she had her first child and says she feels blessed she could watch them grow up, considering modern couples rarely can afford the privilege.

On the secret of their marriage the 78-year-old added: “We love each other still and respect each other.”

Mr Stubbington added: “We both have the same interests and a sense of humour and being able to run helps.”

The great-grandparents-ofnine are known within the extended family as ‘Little Nanny’ and ‘Grunty’.

Their daughter, Kay Adams, said: “I think it’s absolutely amazing, it’s such an achievement it really is.

"The whole family is close and they’ve looked out for everybody, even now, family means everything to them.

“They would rather spend time with family than any material thing and I’m very proud of them.”