A DIAMOND couple who have lived their entire lives together in Witney are today celebrating 60 years of marriage.

Dennis and Auria Coombes, who live in Moorland Close, met in 1955 at Brett's school of dance in Oxford, which they both caught the bus to attend about four times a week.

They were married the very next year on March 3, 1956, at Witney Registry Office with a low-key ceremony just for family and close friends.

The pair joked the key to their decades of happy marriage had been learning to "put up with each other".

Mrs Coombes said: "We've had a good life together and we're very happy. We were over the moon to receive a card from the Queen."

To celebrate their milestone anniversary, the couple are off on their first cruise later this month with daughters Tricia and Maria.

Mrs Coombes added: "We're very excited. We're going on a P&O cruise on the Ventura ship from Southampton then to Spain, Portugal and France."

Mr Coombes was born in Hailey in 1932 and started work on the family farm, before driving lorries for Swan Laundry in Witney, and later at Smiths Industries.

He was also a milk tanker driver for Berry's, based in Stanton Harcourt, for 32 years.

Mrs Coombes, nee Stemp, was born in Tunbridge in 1934 and lived in Oxford when she was younger.

She moved to Witney after marrying, where the couple first lived in a caravan, then in Moor Avenue, and then finally in Moorland Road.

Each day she caught the bus to Cowley to work on the factory line at Morris Motors, which she did for many years before becoming a full-time mother.

After her four children went back to school, she became a dinner lady at Witney Community School.

The couple have had four children together: Robert, 59, Paul, who died 19 years ago in a car accident, Maria, 56 and Tricia, 51.

In his spare time Mr Coombes enjoys darts, crib and cards at various pubs in Witney, Hailey and Crawley and also at the Windrush Club, where he is a lifelong member.

The couple also love to keep their garden looking nice, and grow plenty of vegetables, including potatoes, green beans, carrots and tomatoes.

Their granddaughter Rachel Richards said they also dote on their nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, feeding them "far too many biscuits".