MUSIC really was the food of love for a couple who have celebrated their diamond wedding.

Tom and Freda Raine, of Craghead, near Stanley, first saw each other while Tom played in a Salvation Army band more than 60 years ago.

Mrs Raine, 79, said her future husband, who worked in the mines for most of his life, had come from his native Sherburn Hill village, near Durham City, to a Salvation Army meeting at Newfield, near Pelton.

The couple still attend Salvation Army meetings at Chester-le-Street.

And the secret of long-lasting marriage? Mrs Raine said: "It's about love and pulling together but also about give and take. You have to realise everyone's a separate individual."

The couple's three children, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren attended a meal in their honour and Durham City deputy mayor George Cowper and Oswald Johnson, chairman of Derwentside District Council, attended a celebratory open day at the couple's house.

Councillor Cowper and his wife, Marion, are old friends and Coun Johnson heard about the event after the couple's daughter had their wedding certificate enlarged at Consett Civic Hall.