A COUPLE in South Ham have marked a milestone anniversary with a big party.

Sheila and Ron Buttle, of Paddock Road, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on June 27, and were joined by family and friends for a big party on Saturday 29.

Many of the couple’s six children, 14 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren attended the party, along with friends, to bring up the total to 60 people.

Ron, 81, said: “It was a really lovely party, I think there might have been a few hangovers the next day! But even though it was baking, it was a lovely time.”

The duo also received a card from the Queen congratulating them on their anniversary.

Sheila, also 81, added: “It was brilliant to see, we had no idea at all about the card from the Queen, it is now a centrepiece in the house.”

The couple met in Ron’s native Lewisham in London at an amusement arcade when the same song kept playing on the jukebox.

Ron said: “I was down at the arcade with a few friends, when the same Frankie Lane song kept coming over the jukebox.

“So I told my friends, ‘if that record comes on again, I’m going to go and kick it.’ When it did, I went over to it and found this young lady beside the jukebox.

“I asked her if she had keep having the same record on again and again, and she told me that she loved it.

“After that, we got chatting and it went from there.”

A few years later in 1959, the pair married in Catford, London, while Ron was still completing his national service. They moved to South Ham in 1963, and been in the same place ever since.

Ron worked locally as a printer for many years, before doing his current part-time job cleaning at AWE, which he still does.

Sheila worked at Park Prewett hospital and then Parklands hospital doing housekeeping for 43 years.

Ron said: “We’ve been together for a long time and had a lovely time. We had a cracking day the other day, and while everyone has their ups and downs, we are still together and still in love.”

Sheila added: “Being together for 60 years is really something and I know that I’ve picked a good one.

“I wouldn’t change my family or anything for the world.”