A DAWLISH couple has today, Thursday, March 23, reached a monumental marriage milestone of 60 years.

David and Ann Hyde, who have lived in Dawlish for more than 50 years, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary today with their neighbours, before a day among family on Saturday.

Born and raised in Chelmsford, Essex, David was a manager in training at Woolworths when he met Ann, who worked for as a GPO telephonist, at a local dance.

‘We met where the local teenagers gathered, jiving and dancing about, and that’s how it went on really,’ Ann said.

‘He was very handsome, I was lucky I got him!

‘He had a motorbike in those days and it was so exiciting going to different things together,’ she added.

With a transfer to Norwich on the table for David, the couple decided to get married ahead of the move.

The training at Woolworths meant David had to travel to different stores and occupy different roles for a time.

And so it was, that in the 70s David was given the keys to the Woolworths store in Dawlish.

‘The first thing he thought was, “where is the town? It is only one street!”’ Ann said.

In addition to the Dawlish store, David, who was an avid marathon man, having organised the Torbay half-marathon on several occasions, oversaw Woolworths in Teignmouth, Newton Abbot and Paignton, where he spent his final ten years before retiring.

The secret, if there is such a thing, to a long, happy marriage is for Ann a simple one, it is ‘to be loving and to be kind to one another.’