TODAY marks a milestone in the long and happy marriage of two former Accrington teachers.

Colin and Eunice Anson, who married on August 6, 1955, are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

They plan to spend the day, which began with a surprise card from the Queen, with their family in Southport.

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Indeed it’s a special year for them, too, with daughter Gillian and her husband Paul, both celebrating ‘big’ birthdays and grandsons Christopher and Daniel making up 21 and 18 respectively.

The couple also have one son, John, who is assistant editor of the Lancashire Telegraph, and daughter-in-law Sharon.

As youngsters Colin, 82 and Eunice, 83, both attended Peel Park Primary School in Accrington and worshipped at Cannon Street Baptist Church.

It was only after Eunice returned from teacher training college and Colin came home from National Service, served mainly in Egypt, that they started dating.

Members of the same youth group and both involved with the Sunday School at Cannon Street, they were married there, after an 18 month engagement.

Said Eunice: “ Colin asked my father, as they did in those days, and I remember him being very nervous, even though my family knew what was going on — and we had already bought the ring.”

The couple made their first home in Queens Road, Accrington, and today they live in a house almost opposite.

During her 32-year teaching career, Eunice first taught at Springhill Infant School, Accrington, and then for 28 years at Huncoat Primary School, retiring in 1983. Colin, who worked in the family post office in Accrington before moving into teaching himself in the sixties, was headmaster at Benjamin Hargreaves CE primary school in the last years of his 24-year career.

Since their retirement they have travelled the world, visiting America, Canada and Australia, though today they enjoy spending time in Scotland and Norfolk.

They also attend Trinity Community Church, with Cannon Street now sadly standing derelict.

Said Eunice: “We have been lucky with our health and having a very happy marriage.

“I think the secret is supporting each other through thick and thin, having patience and a good sense of humour.

“We never argue, instead we beg to differ.”