A MAN who was too sick to go on his honeymoon because of malaria celebrated his diamond wedding anniversary yesterday.

Special Forces member Frank Browne returned from duties in the Far East for his wedding to wartime sweetheart Irene - but was carrying malaria.

Although the wedding was able to take place at the parish church in Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, Frank was later admitted to hospital before making his recovery from the blood disorder, contracted after being bitten by mosquitos.

"I had been serving out in Burma with General Wingate's Chindits and came back over for the wedding in December 1944. Although we managed to get married all right, there was no honeymoon because of the malaria.

"I ended up being in hospital in Chester-le-Street for a while until I got it out of my system."

Frank, 84, from Doncaster, who began the war in the York and Lancasters Regiment, met Irene, from Pelton, at an Army base in York where she was working as a nurse early in the war years. He went on to serve in various fields of conflict, winning campaign medals in North Africa, Burma and Palestine.

After the war, he worked as a lifeguard at beaches in the North-East, including at Tynemouth and Seaburn, and later took a job on the railways and then in factories at Birtley. Irene also worked in Birtley for some time, at the Royal Ordnance munitions factory.

The couple have gone on to enjoy 60 years of marriage, and have two sons, Alan and Len, and grandchildren Steven and Angela. Family members will join Frank and Irene at a celebratory lunch at a Chester Moor restaurant today.