They were born just two minutes apart and as twins Malcolm and Alan Lemmon were always going to be close.

Eastern Daily Press: Alan pictured on his wedding day with his wife June, top picture, and Malcolm with his wife Phyllis. Picture: ANTONY KELLY.Alan pictured on his wedding day with his wife June, top picture, and Malcolm with his wife Phyllis. Picture: ANTONY KELLY. (Image: Archant Norfolk 2016)

But the 84-year-olds, from Sprowston and Earlham respectively, did not imagine they would be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversaries just weeks apart.

Malcolm and his wife Phyllis, were married at Saint Mary's Church in Long Stratton on June 30 1956, and Alan and June tied the knot at Holy Trinity Church in Norwich on August 4.

'It was not planned' said Alan. 'It just happened and it is quite unique.'

The twins have both lived away from Norwich and each other. Alan served in Egypt for his National Service and Malcolm worked on an atomic station in Cumberland.

'When he went away I went away and when he came back I came back,' said Malcolm. 'We have been fairly close all the way through.'

Alan added: 'We got used to being apart but we were conscious of each other.'

Malcolm and Phyllis meet at a Hempnall dance hall.

Phyllis, 84, said: 'I told him I would not go out with him for the next night because it was my 22nd birthday and I always went out in Wymondham dancing.'

Alan met June through friends and spent their first date dancing at Samson and Hercules in Tombland.

'We gradually got to know each other and we must have just clicked,' said June, 78.

Both couples got engaged in 1954.

Malcolm puts their long marriages down to the help of family and friends.

He said: 'If you have a problem they are the first ones to put an arm around your shoulder.'

Alan added: 'You have got to have an opinion of your own. We have had individual opinions.'

The couples went out for a meal at Browston Hall in Lowestoft to celebrate their marriages.