An Oxford couple who have been married for 60 years owe their marriage to a chance meeting at a wartime dance.

Jack and Ruby Gee, of Kersington Crescent, Cowley, who celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary last Thursday, said if it had not been for a dance in Woodstock, they might never have met.

Mrs Gee, 86, went to work on farms near the town during the Second World War as a Land Army girl, to help feed the country.

Mr Gee, 85, who has lived in Oxfordshire his whole life, was a fireman and driver on the railways, and had arranged to go the dance with a few friends.

He said: “I had sorted out a lift there and back with three other lads.

“But when it got to the end of the night, our lift didn’t show up, so we had to walk home all the way from Woodstock to Oxford in the rain.

“It took about three hours and I started work at 3am in those days, so when I got home I had to go straight back out again.

“But that was the night I met Ruby, so it was all worth it in the end.”

Mrs Gee added: “He got absolutely soaking wet.

“I was all right. I was nice and warm and dry in my hostel in Woodstock.”

Mrs Gee, nee Mchalroy, was discharged from the Land Army after the war when she developed asthma.

The couple married in 1949 in Yorkshire, where Ruby grew up, and moved to their home in Oxford in 1956. They said the secret to a happy marriage was simple: never go to bed on an argument.

Mr Gee said: “Everyone has them, of course we do, but you’ve got to make up and get on.”

Mrs Gee added: “It’s about pulling together, I think.

“And never have words in front of the children. We were always very firm about that.”

Mr and Mrs Gee spent their special day at home together, but are planning a family celebration with their daughter Patricia and sons Peter and John, three grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk