A COUPLE who have been married for 20 years celebrated their anniversary - with a blessing.

Ken and Rae Hepburn chose the unusual event at St Mary's Church, Old Basing, to mark the landmark occasion together with their family and friends.

Mrs Hepburn, 62, said she and her husband, who live in Tennyson Way, South Ham, Basingstoke, first met in 1958 when she was just 16 and working at an office in Wote Street.

"Ken was driving a van down Wote Street when I was walking with my friend Pat," she said. "I had a bag of cherries and he reached out of the window and took one!"

The chance encounter led the pair to become firm friends and Mr Hepburn drove her home from her job to Overton each night.

But the pair lost touch and were not to meet again until 1979 when Mrs Hepburn got a job at the Rediffusion audio-visual shop in Wote Street where - by coincidence - Mr Hepburn turned out to be working too.

"We fell in love and set up home together - and on November 30, 1984, we got married," said Mrs Hepburn.

"However, because we had both been married before, we couldn't find anyone who would marry us in a church.

"We ended up getting married at Basingstoke Register Office, but it just never felt 'complete' to me without a church service. That's one of the reasons for the marriage blessing - and now we've done it, everything feels complete."

Joining more than 40 friends and members of Mr and Mrs Hepburn's family at the service were their colleagues from work - in Mrs Hepburn's case, Gordian Strapping in Brunel Road, Basingstoke, and in Mr Hepburn's case The Anvil, where he has worked for seven years as the stage door keeper.

Mr Hepburn, 71, was delighted when, as a special gesture to mark the unique occasion, his colleagues from The Anvil offered to provide the lighting, sound and video for the church service, which took place last Saturday.

"We are like a family as well as a team at The Anvil and it was wonderful that they did this for me," he said.

And the couple agreed that their special day could not have been more perfect.

Mrs Hepburn said: "Everything about it was just what we wanted - it was a lovely day and a lovely service."