A COUPLE celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary yesterday with friends.

Jack and Elsie Suddes married on December 8, 1945, while Mr Suddes was on a month's leave from the armed forces.

The couple got engaged in 1941 - and then, shortly after, Mr Suddes was sent abroad with the Middle East Forces and Central Mediterranean Forces.

So when Mr Suddes heard that he was to be given a month's leave in late 1945, he wrote to his fiancee and asked if she still loved him.

"She wrote back and said she felt just the same and would be happy to marry me," said Mr Suddes.

They married at St Michael's Church in Heighington - the village that Mrs Suddes was born in - and where they have lived ever since.

Before retirement, Mr Suddes, 84, worked as an electro-mechanical engineer and Mrs Suddes at Shildon Shops, and later the post offices in Heighington and in Darlington.

For the past few years Mrs Suddes, 82, has been suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and Mr Suddes has been caring for his wife.

He said: "We have had an outstanding marriage, we are like two peas in a pod, never apart. It has been a lovely day and we have had stacks of friends visiting."