TEENAGE rebels who used to zoom through the countryside on a motorcycle celebrate their diamond anniversary today.

Barbara and Lawson Bayliss will receive congratulations from the Queen as they mark 60 years since their wedding day, which went ahead despite parent disapproval.

The Abingdon sweethearts claim "love at first sight" sparked romance when Mrs Bayliss, now 76, was just 15.

She said: "I was with my friend and he was in his motorbike gear, I always liked motorbikes. We got talking and that's how it came about. It was a quick courtship, it just grew straight away."

Their first meeting at Abingdon coffee shop Delimonts, which was a favourite teenage hangout, spiralled into dances, bus rides from Mrs Bayliss' home in Wootton into Oxford where her future husband lived, and trips to motorbike scrambles.

Mr Bayliss, who was 17 at the time, said: "It was love at first sight.

"When we first met she had eyes that looked like diamonds and lovely black curly hair. Now it's white and I say she's my silver wings. We always have a laugh together."

The 78-year-old, who worked at the Morris Motors factory in Cowley (now the BMW Plant), added: "You only love once in a lifetime."

He joked his wife "thinks I'm mad" and burst into a cheery tune by Sam Cooke, crooning: "She was only 16, eyes that glow, she was too young to fall in love, I was too young to know."

They married at St Peter's Church in Wootton one year after meeting, where Mrs Bayliss clutched a bouquet of blue flowers as she walked down the aisle in matching blue shoes.

Mrs Bayliss said: "Our parents thought we were too young, but we still went ahead. They were happy about it in the end."

They moved back to Mr Bayliss' family home in Barton and had their first child Paul, who was joined in the following years by daughter Belinda and sons Sean and Mark, who grew up in Sutton Courtenay where they later moved.

Mrs Bayliss said: "We still love each other - we've had an amazing life.

"We are so lucky to have four of the most lovely children in the world."

The Hillview Road couple are celebrating their special day by hosting a family party with some of their eight grandchildren.

Also joining the celebrations will be their pet bull terrier Roxy, who carries on the animal lovers' tradition of always having a dog around the house.

Crufts-goer and keen gardener Mr Bayliss, whose garden fruit trees have provided the star ingredient in his wife's desserts, advised couples to "stick together" through good times and bad times and "just soldier on".