CHURCHINFORD couple Nettie and Bryan Lenton are celebrating 60 years of marriage today (Thursday) with a quiet family get-together.

They were married at East Cliff Church, Bournemouth, on December 19, 1953.

Both originally from Leicester, the couple met while Bryan was visiting a guest house run by Nettie’s parents, after they moved to Bournemouth.

Romance blossomed, and despite long journeys between Leicester and Bournemouth by motorbike – in those days roads were worse – they spent as much time as possible together.

Their son, Nigel, was born in 1958.

Nettie left her work as a PA to a local solicitors to become a full time housewife, while Bryan continued his work as a design draughtsman for B.A.C. Hurn in Dorset (since taken over by British Aerospace).

In the early 1980s, the family, together with Nettie’s parents, moved to Somerset.

They ran a village shop on Exmoor for a while, before retiring to Upton, near Wiveliscombe, where they spent 29 happy years.

The couple, who now live in Churchinford, are real animal lovers, especially dogs.