MORE than 50 years after he was bowled over on his first meeting with his future bride, Jim Dixon couldn't be happier with Edna, his 'champion' wife.

Edna wouldn't have blamed Jim if he hadn't asked her out after that 1950 encounter in an Aycliffe factory canteen. He was knocked to the ground after Edna floored him with her outstretched arm as she gave directions to a friend.

Jim, 73, said: "She gave me a good wallop and I fell backwards off my chair. It nearly knocked my out. She obviously had a good left hook but it didn't put me off. She has been just champion."

Two years later, the couple, who celebrated their golden wedding last Friday married in St John's Church, Kirk Merrington, the village where they made their home.

The couple who have two sons Alan and Brian, used to run fish and chips shops at Cornforth for ten years and at Ferryhill for nine.