FAMILY and friends helped mark the Golden Wedding anniversary of Frank and Bridie Nickson by throwing a surprise party at their home.

The couple, of Tintern Crescent, Little Harwood, clocked up 50 years of marriage on January 28 after meeting at a Blackburn dance hall in 1947.

Bridie, 75, had just arrived in England from County Mayo, Ireland, with a friend.

She said: "I think it was love at first sight because we have been together ever since.

"Though Frank was a much better dancer than me."

A former canteen worker at Mullard's in Little Harwood, Bridie and former electricity meter reader Frank, 72, soon started a family.

They now have three sons and a daughter, as well as four grandsons and a granddaughter.

Bridie went on: "We were going to delay any celebrations because my daughter is in Australia but they all came up and brought loads of food.

"It was brilliant. A really lovely day.

"We had champagne and presents, we really enjoyed ourselves."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.