THEY fell in love as teenagers but today a Great Sankey couple are celebrating sixty years of happy marriage.

John and Barbara Hardy met on the coach home from a dance when they were just 16 and 17-years-old.

John, who is now 81, said: “I had left school and started working at Whitecross Wire Works on Milner Street when I joined the youth club there. Barbara was also a member. We met on the bus coming back from an evening dance and things just blossomed from there. After that we would go dancing and go to Crosfields together.”

But it was not long before John was called up for his national service and he spent two years serving with the army in Egypt and Malta.

He said: “As soon as I returned we got back together and I proposed. We got married at Saint Barnabas church on Lovely Lane when I was 21. One thing that sticks in my mind is that Barbara’s uncle came over from Yorkshire to give her away because she lost her dad when she was very young. And I remember we had to save up petrol ration coupons to send him so he could get here. It only seems like yesterday.

“Our first holiday was to the Isle of Man and we had to bring our ration coupons with us.”

Barbara, who grew up on Manchester Road, worked at a drapers shop on Sankey Street while the young couple saved up to buy their first home together.

John said: “Our house was a new build in 1963 and I remember bringing our daughter home in a carry cot. We have been very happy here and lived here ever since.”

The couple now have three grandchildren and enjoy travelling. They have returned to Malta, where John served, for several holidays and are looking forward to a trip to Salou in Spain later this year,

John added: “We are very active, we like gardening, going on holiday and we get out a lot to see friends and family.

“You have got to think very carefully about getting married now, nobody is certain of the future.

“Barbara shouts at me sometimes but we get on very well. She keeps me on my toes. I don’t believe there are any couples who don’t argue sometimes.

“If I could turn back the clock I would do it all again.”