MANY couples will say they bumped into one another when they met, but for the McCarthys that could not be any more true.

Seventeen-year-old Mary Lines met John McCarthy in 1947, when he had come over from County Cork, Ireland, to visit his brother.

They ran straight into one another in Cornmarket Street as they tried to get through the same door.

The 27-year-old John then asked her out for a cup of tea and 60 years later they are still together.

Mr McCarthy said: “We got on very well and have never had a cross word. It seems very good to have got to our diamond wedding anniversary.”

The McCarthys celebrated their diamond wedding on July 28 by inviting their family to the King’s Arms in Woodstock for a Champagne lunch.

The are now planning taking a 14-day cruise to Russia and will renew their vows on board.

The now 80-year-old Mrs McCarthy said: “John has always wanted to go to Russia. We have been on cruises before, but this will be a really special one. It is a very important anniversary.”

After four years together they were married in St Hugh of Lincoln church in Woodstock.

Mrs McCarthy said: “It was a lovely day, but slightly windy. I had to pin down my veil. We just had around 60 guests and my mother did the catering. John’s family didn’t come over because we were going to Ireland for our honeymoon.”

Mrs McCarthy worked in the civil service before leaving to bring up the family. Mr McCarthy, now 90, worked at Pressed Steel Fisher for 35 years and cycled in every day.

In 1953 they moved into the same house they live in now in Mickle Way, Forest Hill.

Mrs McCarthy said: “We have tea together every day. It is a link to keeping each other together.

“We get on very well. We are both Roman Catholic and our faith is very important to us.”

They have six children, eight grandchildren, and three greatgrandchildren.