A COUPLE who first met when they were school children today celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary.

Frank and Margaret Wood met when he was 16 and she was 14 but they didn't start courting until a few years later.

Mr Wood was called up to the RAF and met his future wife at a dance in Crudwell, near Malmesbury, in 1951, while on leave.

They split up for a period when Mr Wood was posted away from the area but got together again when he was demobbed and got a job at Ecko in Malmesbury.

Margaret was also working for the defence contractor and they met at a dance in the work canteen.

They got engaged and married just six weeks later at Chippenham Registry Office. Because money was short, the reception was low key.

But they are sparing no expense for their anniversary celebration and have invited 50 friends and relatives to join them at the Wiltshire Country Club in Wootton Bassett.

The couple spent 27 years working together in the greengrocery shop they both ran on Wood Lane, Braydon.

They currently live just outside Lyneham.

When asked for the secret of a long and happy marriage, Mr Wood, 72, said: "Treat each other with respect and treat each other as equals."

"And there's a lot of give and take about it."

Mrs Wood, 69, said: "We've got a wonderful marriage and I would do it all again."