A FORMER mayor and mayoress of Darlington will celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary today.

Allan Gill and his wife, Joan, became a couple on VE Day, May 9, 1945, and, after marrying two years later, will celebrate their 60th year of marriage on Thursday.

Mrs Gill said the couple had a special connection with the Royal Family. Not only were they married in the same year as the Queen and Prince Philip, but Mr Gill is the same age as the Prince, 86, and Mrs Gill is the same age as the Queen, 81.

"In fact," Mrs Gill said, "the only difference is their bank balance."

Mr Gill, who worked as an engine driver for London and North-East Railways, was also a town councillor for 23 years and made mayor in 1979-80.

The couple met when Mr Gill moved to Darlington from West Cornforth, aged 16. But the Second World War intervened and Mrs Gill was sent to Nottingham to work in the Army postal service.

But the couple were reunited and, after Mr Gill was de-mobbed in 1947, the pair married at Cockerton St Mary's church on September 20.

The couple have one son, Stephen, 53, who lives in the town.

Mr Gill said the secret to their marriage was tolerance. "You have to have arguments, everybody does, but it's all about give and take," he said.