A COUPLE who the Gazette once helped go on holiday are celebrating 60 years of marriage today.

Sylvia and James ‘Bryan’ Reece, of Caesar Close, Basingstoke, were married in Sunbury-on-Thames on March 28, 1959.

Both 82, the pair have lived in various locations around Basingstoke and the surrounding areas over the course of the past 62 years since they met one another.

The duo met in 1957 in Bryan’s native Richmond at a dance, after he had come out of national service earlier in the year.

Working as a radar technician for the RAF, Bryan was stationed at several different bases over the course of his two years, with much of his service taking place in Cyprus, around Cape Greco.

It was only two years after meeting that the pair got married, when they were both aged 22,

They went on to have two sons together and now have three grandchildren.

One of the first holidays that the pair took together as a married couple was back to Cyprus, organised by The Gazette at the time, with one of our staff photographers who had organised the trip out there.

It was a hobby that the two kept up, going on around 50 holidays to various places in Europe over the course of their 60 years of marriage, including to Spain, Portugal and Greece.

The pair had a number of jobs during their working lives, with Bryan working for several different companies in the area including Smiths, Lansing Bagnell and Honeywells, working with various instruments as a technician. Sylvia also worked at Lansing Bagnell doing secretarial work for a time.

Bryan said: “We share everything. While we know that we are not perfect, we know who we are and have pulled together.

“We’ve lived together so long, and we can remember everything.”

Now both retired, the pair enjoy their hobbies in peace. Bryan is a keen supporter of both Fulham FC and Basingstoke Town FC, as well as a regular golfer.

He also enjoys listening to music, using the computer and reading about history, and Sylvia enjoys knitting and gardening.

Sylvia said: “Perhaps that’s why we get on so well, he’s upstairs using the computer, while I’m downstairs reading or out in the garden.”

They will be celebrating the anniversary by having their family visiting to have a dinner.

Bryan said: “The amount of time creeps up on you. It feels like it has gone so fast, but it is a good thing.

“We’ve lived here for a long time and seen the area change a lot.”