A Sawtry couple are celebrating after reaching their golden wedding anniversary. John and Jean Garner married at Coates Methodist Church on August 3, 1956 – where they had met eight years earlier. Incredibly, the minister who performed the ceremony, Rev

A Sawtry couple are celebrating after reaching their golden wedding anniversary.

John and Jean Garner married at Coates Methodist Church on August 3, 1956 - where they had met eight years earlier.

Incredibly, the minister who performed the ceremony, Rev Harry Johnson, was the same man who had married both their parents some 25 years earlier and christened both John and Jean.

John represents Sawtry on Huntingdonshire District Council as an independent councillor and was headteacher of Sawtry Junior School for 18 years. Jean has spent her life teaching children of all ages, including a spell as deputy head at Thorpe Junior School.

Jean said: "I knew it was a special day when John agreed not to go bowling in the evening! I think the secret to a long marriage is staying active - doing lots of things together but also lots of things apart."

Jean, 75, and John, 74, have two daughters, Elizabeth and Karen, and four grandchildren, Simon, Lauren, Miles and Bethany. Jean's mother Ada is 97.