THEIR eyes met across the dance floor at a Christmas party more than six decades ago and today George and Edna Pearce are celebrating 60 years of marriage.
When the couple met at a dance at the Blighmont Army barracks in Millbrook Road in December 1942 George knew he had met the love of his life.
"It was more or less love at first sight!" he said.
George, now 82 and Edna, 79, courted for two years before setting a date for an Easter wedding in 1945. The ceremony was brought forward to January 10 after George, who installed radar systems in battleships at Thornycroft, believed he was about to be called up.
"I never had to go in the end though because I am colour-blind," said George, who stayed at Thornycroft instead.
The couple were married at Millbrook Church and set up home in Prince of Wales Avenue before moving a few months later to the flat above Pearce's Greengrocers - George's father's business - in Shirley Road.
They moved again a short while later to Claremont Road in Regents Park, before finally settling in Byron Road, Thornhill, in 1962, where they still live today.
They have two daughters - Janet and Susan - six grandchildren and two great grand-children.
The couple celebrated their diamond milestone yesterday with a party at Janet's house in Bournemouth.
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