A DIAMOND couple are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary surrounded by three generations of family.

Henry and Eileen Humphreys, of Grosvenor Road, Prescot met 61 years ago at a dance in Bristol when he was in the army and she was an office clerk.

They married a year later at St Mary's Parish Church in Prescot.

The pair, both 83, will celebrate the diamond anniversary of that special day on August 28 surrounded by their nearest and dearest.

Eileen said there isn’t a special secret behind her and her husband’s many years of matrimony.

She said: “I let Henry think he knows best! There’s no secret to it really.

“Henry worked away a lot when we first married so it was always like new when he came home but we’ve always had our family around us which I think can only be a good thing.”

The pair moved back to Prescot the week before they got married after Henry left the army and moved in to their first home together on Cross Street.

Since 1957 they have lived in nearby Grosvenor Road.

Their marriage has managed to last despite numerous interruptions, including Henry being drafted up to the army reserves during the Suez Crisis in Egypt in 1956 and the former Tarmac plant manager often being called to work around the world.

Eileen said: “When Henry first worked away it was tough because he was away for six months at a time but we got used to it.

“I managed the kids okay on my own but he’d be back every three or four months.

“I always had relations around too but I always looked forward to him coming home.”

The couple, who have two children, Keith, 56, and John, 53, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren, celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2004 with a large family party.

Reaching another significant landmark was something Eileen could never have imagined.

She said: “I didn’t think I’d ever be married this long, but I never thought we wouldn’t be together all the time.

“I didn’t imagine we’d ever get to 60 years, time just goes.”