A COUPLE are celebrating 65 years of marriage today.

Denis and Audrey Towlard married in Darlington, at St Luke's Church, in Corporation Road, in 1939, three weeks before the Second World War started.

Mr Towlard described how he fell in love at first sight with his wife at the Majestic Cinema, now a snooker hall in Bondgate, Darlington, in 1934.

"I saw her coming up the stairs to the cafe at the cinema and my friend smiled at her, he said he knew her, it was Audrey Little," he said.

"I was struck immediately, like a thunderclap, and so I asked him to introduce us.

"I fell in love immediately and I think she probably felt the same, because that same evening she lent me her portable gramophone and I had only just met her."

Mr Towlard, 87, worked at Sherwoods garage in the town, before becoming a teacher at Oxbridge School, Stockton, and headteacher of Thornaby Church of England School, from 1956.

Mrs Towlard, 88, worked as a shorthand typist at the Friendly Society insurance company before having the couple's daughter, Ruth.

She was also involved in amateur operatics and the TocH.

Mr Towlard said: "I think our long and happy marriage is down to one word - love. It was love at first sight and still is."

The couple, who live in Thornaby, will celebrate their anniversary with a lunch with their family, including their two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.