A couple have recreated their wedding photo on the steps of a town's pub as they celebrate their diamond anniversary.

Eastern Daily Press: Michael and Irene Oxborough were married at St Michael's Church on March 21, 1959. Here they are pictures at the Kings Head Hotel for their reception. Picture: Contributed by the Oxborough familyMichael and Irene Oxborough were married at St Michael's Church on March 21, 1959. Here they are pictures at the Kings Head Hotel for their reception. Picture: Contributed by the Oxborough family (Image: Archant)

Irene and Michael Oxborough, from Beccles, were married at St Michael's Church on March 21, 1959.

After the ceremony, the newly-weds went to the Kings Head Hotel for the reception.

At the pub the pair posed for a picture they would cherish for the next six decades, and it was their dream to recreate it for the 60th anniversary.

'We are standing on the stairs of the Kings Head hotel, we wanted to have the exact same photo - we wanted to repeat it,' Mrs Oxborough said.

In 1949, the pair were set up on a blind date to meet at the steps of the cinema in Berkeley, Gloucestershire.

But the couple, who are now aged in their early 80s, was torn apart when Mr Oxborough began his apprenticeship at the Ingate Ironworks in Beccles.

Following his father's orders, he stuck to the apprenticeship and left the romance behind.

'About two years later I went back to visit and stopped in to ask if Irene was in, they said she was on holiday and was back tomorrow.

'The next day I went to the cinemas to watch a film, and she came a sat in the spare seat next to me and it grew from there.

'We were definitely in love,' he said.

After the chance encounter the pair exchanged hundreds of letters as well as phone calls and travelled across the country to see each other.

But the distance took a toll and Mrs Oxborough moved from her home town to Beccles.

Mr Oxborough, who was a volunteer fireman at the Beccles Fire Station for 30 years, said: 'We have had a very hectic but good life, we do argue but we always come out smiling. We have had that family relationship.

'We do everything together,' the 83-year-old said.

According to Mrs Oxborough, who is now 82, the key to a good marriage is to 'give and take'.

'Well, I have a good husband, we give and we take and have produced two beautiful children,' she said.