ALAN and Doreen Hibbert met on an Army ship which was heading for the Far East in 1957.

“We were sailing past the coast of Tenerife when we first met – I remember the exact moment we were sitting next to each other admiring the view of land and I was helping her with the film in her camera,” said Alan.

“The funny thing is I put it in wrong and so the photo didn’t come out.”

Alan, 86, was completing his National Service while Doreen was stationed in Singapore at the British military hospital.

Despite being engaged while onboard, Doreen called off the marriage while the boat was sailing away from South Africa.

Alan joked: “I was a bachelor when I left Southampton!”

After spending a little more than a year in the Far East, Alan and Doreen moved back home and got married on June 21, 1958 in Catterick, North Yorkshire where Doreen was born.

As a young child she moved out to India with her dad’s Army job and returned in her teenage years to Yorkshire.

She then trained as a nurse in Darlington before beginning her career in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service.

The couple moved to Appleton in 1983 after living in Yorkshire and Manchester.

Their friend Sylvia organised a surprise coffee and cake morning at St Matthew’s Church in Stretton for the couple to celebrate their marriage milestone.

Alan, who is heavily involved with the church, said: “I knew they were planning something but I didn’t know what it was. I was under strict instructions to make sure Doreen got to the church for 10.30am.”

They have three children, Roger, Martin and Sally and two grandchildren, James and Charles.

On July 21, Sally is flying over from Sydney for a family celebration of the diamond wedding anniversary at Martin’s home in Surrey.

Alan added: “It will be a rare occasion where all of the family are back together.”

When asked for their secret to a long, happy marriage, Doreen put it simply: “Compromise.”