WHITCHURCH town councillors Roy and Iris Dykes have just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

The couple, who live in Lynch Hill Park, marked the special day with a party attended by family and friends at their daughter's Winchester home.

Roy, aged 81, and Iris, aged 80, first met during a carnival at Charkwell Park in Southend-on-Sea. They began courting and married in Hutton, near Brentwood on 24 November 1941.

At the time, Roy was a sub-lieutenant serving with the Royal Navy Voluntary Reserve on the flower class corvette HMS Honeysuckle. His service included voyages to Russia, Halifax, the Mediterranean Sea and the South Atlantic. Iris remained in Leigh-on-Sea, working in a dairy.

After the war Roy came out of service and worked in accountancy while Iris stayed at home to bring up the couple's two children, Maureen and Stephen. She also helped out as a school dinner lady for 15 years.

When Roy retired in 1980, the pair moved to Norfolk before settling in Whitchurch in 1982.

Since then, they have been busy with their three dogs, 15-year-old cairn terrier Holly and petit basset griffon vendeens Amber and Merrie. The dogs have won many prizes at Crufts over the years.