AN unpopular film, a strict usher and a grumpy bus conductor were the makings of Pam and Tony West's 50-year long marriage.

The Wests have just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a family get-together, rounded off with a relaxing break in Tenerife.

But there were stumbling blocks for the Magnolia Close pair, who endured some eventful dates in their first few months of courtship. The Andover couple met in 1952 after walking out of an Uxbridge cinema showing Spring in Park Lane.

Two more unfortunate events befell their next dates when Tony forgot some change to take Pam on the bus - which the bus conductor found unamusing - and an usher asked them to leave a cinema. "I got cramp, jumped up and knocked some ice-cream off a tray, over a balcony and onto the audience below," Tony recalled.

But the Wests got through that humiliation and went on to marry and run a grocery shop together in Kingston-upon-Thames.

They moved to Andover with their son Russell where Tony bumped into his former boss and was offered a job at the local branch of Locomotors.

For the full story see Friday's Andover Advertiser.