A COUPLE in their nineties celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary at a surprise party last week.

George and Joyce Young were joined by family and friends at Milward Court retirement home on February 8 to mark their seventieth year of marriage.

“It was a lovely party,” said 92 year-old Mrs Young.

“We weren't aware of the party. We didn't know that all the family were going to be there. It was such a surprise.”

The couple met when she was 16 and Mr Young, now 94, was 17, at a party in Silver Street Mission Hall.

With Mr Young working in the coal mines as a Bevin Boy towards the end of the war, it took the besotted pair five years to get married at Christ Church in Reading on February 8, 1947.

Mrs Young continued: “When we got married we moved out to Spring Lane in Burghfield.

“My husband built a bungalow for a us to live in over three years on the weekends. That's where we lived until we came here ten years ago.

“George is a joiner by trade. He used to cycle from Burghfield to his work in Caversham every day.”

When asked about the secret of their long and successful union, Mrs Young explained: “We are quite happy doing what we do.

“It is a case of giving and taking. We are very even tempered.”