A MESSAGE from the Queen provided the icing on the cake for diamond wedding couple Ken and Alice Boorman.

Mr and Mrs Boorman, of Swaledale Avenue, Darlington, celebrated their 60th anniversary with family and friends on Saturday.

They met during the Second World War, when Mr Boorman, originally from Kent, found himself stationed in Evenwood, near Bishop Auckland.

He was serving as a corporal with the Reconnaissance Corps when he was introduced to his future wife by a mutual friend in November 1940.

The couple, who have two children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, married six months later, at Barnard Castle Register Office.

Mr Boorman, 80, worked at the North Road locomotive workshops for a number of years.

Mrs Boorman, 83, is from a family of ten. She worked in the laundry department at Redworth Hall.

She said: "We have had a good life together with some good times.