AFTER meeting at a mutual friend's party, a couple from Figheldean is celebrating 60 years of marriage.

Tim and Penny Mason will be marking their diamond wedding anniversary on Thursday, after they married on September 26, 1959, and will soon be heading to the Canary Islands as part of the festivities.

Tim, born in Haslemere, and Penny, who was born in Kenya and moved to England at ten-years-old, met in August 1958 and were married at Seale Church, Surrey, just over a year later.

Following the wedding the couple had three daughters - Angela, born in 1960 who now lives in Scotland, and Jacqueline in 1962 and Julie in 1969, who both live in Australia.

Tim has had a life in the air, with jobs including time in the Royal Air Force, and then a test pilot.

The couple retired to Figheldean in 1995, and Penny is now a part time volunteer at Shop Mobility, meanwhile Tim has written three books on test flying and is on his village hall committee.

Gardening is just one of the hobbies the pair do together.

"Compromise and communication" is the key to a long marriage, Tim said.