TWO former Taunton teachers celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary this month.

Bob and Irene Bowes got married back on April 2, 1955, and moved from Lancashire to Taunton three years after when Mr Bowes was offered a job as a PE teacher at Askwith School.

Mr Bowes was a well-established teacher by the time the school moved to the brand new The Castle School site in Wellington Road.

He quickly became head of Windsor House as well as the head of the technical department.

Mrs Bowes had joined Staplegrove School as an infants teacher and later went on to become headmistress and to oversee the school’s move to the Bindon Road site.

Mr Bowes has only recently returned home after a five-week stay at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton with a kidney problem – so is enjoying the comforts of home even more.

The happy couple have two sons, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.