Devizes couple Frank and Eileen Clark will celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary on Saturday with a family party at Marden Village Hall.

The Clarks, of Le Marchant Close, Devizes, met in 1949 at a village hop in Brockenhurst while Mr Clark was stationed at RAF Beaulieu, near Lymington.

When asked if it was love at first sight Mr Clark, 81, said: “Of course it was, I mean just look at me!”

Mrs Clark, also 81, added: “It was more that we really got on straight away. We just clicked.”

Mr Clark had joined the Navy fresh from Devizes Grammar School and served on several aircraft carriers as a mechanic.

After courting for a year the couple married on August 7 1950 in the bride’s home village of Peasedown St John.

Their first child, Sue, was born in the summer of 1952 but Mr Clark did not meet his daughter until she was ten months old as he was away with the Navy. They had another three children over the next decade, Sara, David and Ray, and have three grandchildren.

In 1961 the couple moved to Chirton where Mr Clark worked on a farm and Mrs Clark worked in the village shop, until it closed.

She opened Chirton’s post office in 1969 and ran it for 25 years.

But just what is the secret to 60 years of marriage? Mrs Clark said: “I would say it’s about give and take” while her husband chuckled: “I would say doing what you’re told helps.”