Besotted Sutton couple celebrate 60 years of happy marriage

However, the long-standing couple have this week celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary – and have a letter from Queen Elizabeth II to prove it.

Keith, 83, and Jenny, 78, first met each other at Sutton’s Bainbridge Ballroom when Jenny was just 12 years old, and after sharing a dance had taken a likening to one another.

The couple remained close despite the five-year age gap, and when Keith joined the Army and was posted to Hong Kong they regularly sent letters to keep in touch.

After Keith returned to England the Sutton couple got married at St Mary’s Church, and have this week celebrated sixty years since their wedding on December 9, 1959.

Jenny, who worked in Woolworth’s in Sutton, and Keith, who was a knitter at Pretty Polly for 44 years, had two children together in the 1960s – Neil Hutchinson and Deborah Taylor – and say they "cannot live” without each other.

Speaking on the anniversary, besotted Jenny says the secret to their long marriage is “plenty of laughter” and added that she was thankful for their happy times.

She said: “It has been wonderful, we were treated to an amazing party on Saturday night at The Junction, where so many friends and family turned out and made us feel special.

“Me and Keith first met when I was 12 and he was 17, we danced together at the Bainbridge Ballroom and I thought he was just wonderful.

“He joined the Army and while he was out in Hong Kong we wrote to each other, and when I was 18 we eventually got married.

“Neil was born when I was 21 and then our daughter Deborah was born when I was 25, and that’s when our family started.

“It’s been a very happy marriage, and the secret to it has been plenty of laughter and a good sense of humour.

“Of course we’ve had our ups and downs, but I just give Keith a good hiding every week and it keeps him in check.

“I’m joking of course, we love each other very much.”