A FORMER probation officer and his post mistress wife will celebrate 50 years of wedded bliss this weekend.

Keith and Audrey Dinning married on May 18, 1963, four years after they met when their schools played sports against each other.

Mr Dinning, originally from Kelloe, and his West Cornforth-born wife, spent 13 years running the Post Office and newsagents in Tudhoe before taking over the Frosterley branch for four years.

Before joining his wife in the Post Office Mr Dinning worked as a probation officer in several prisons including a psychiatric unit in the south of England and Durham Prison.

The couple, both 71, have two children Kevin, 47, and Andrea, 45, who followed her mother’s footsteps and now runs the Post Office at Tindale, six grandchildren and one two-year-old great-grandson.

Mr and Mrs Dinning, who have lived in Bishop Auckland since 1990, are both active members of the town’s Methodist Church and Mrs Dinning is also treasurer and a former chairman of the County Durham Women’s Institute.

They were married at West Cornforth Methodist Chapel and said the church has played a big part in their lives. The couple will celebrate their anniversary with family, although there may be a surprise in store if previous milestones are anything to go by.

Mrs Dinning said: “One year for my birthday Keith arranged it for me to drive a double-decker bus around Darlington, which was unexpected.”

Mr Dinning said: “We have had our ups and downs but while we have enjoyed our own interests, we have always supported each other in everything we do.”