A DURSLEY couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary last week.

Ron and Edna Skinner, of Fort Lane, celebrated 60 years of marriage on Thursday, February 17. The couple marked the occasion together on the day followed by a family party in Luckington on Saturday.

The couple met when Mr Skinner, who survived the sinking of the Ark Royal, moved to the Windsor base where Mrs Skinner was a Wren.

She said: "We went out together in big groups on what we called quiet runs to the pub and dances."

The couple got engaged in 1944 before marrying a year later in St James Church, Friern Barnet, where Mrs Skinner was born.

The run up to the marriage was not smooth, as three weeks before, her trousseau was lost when a bomb hit the house where they were kept.

After leaving the navy in 1947 Mr Skinner, originally from Portsmouth, trained as a teacher. He then gained a degree in Psychology and worked for Gloucestershire Education Authority and Avon Education Authority.

Mrs Skinner, who left the Wrens in 1945, became a secretary working all over the country.

The couple moved to Dursley in 1971. Since retiring Mrs Skinner, 85, has been involved with the Dursley Operatic and Dramatic Society, running the box office for 20 years, Cotswold Chorus, Dursley Lionesses and the Royal Naval Association.

Mr Skinner, 86, has been involved with the Royal Naval Association and Dursley Probus as well as writing reviews for various performance societies. Mr Skinner said: "I think the key to a long and happy marriage is give and take and being open about things."

Mrs Skinner said: "You have to get along with each other - that is very important."