Three former employees of the East Kent Mercury have this year celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Alan Harris and Mill Hill sisters Brenda and Cynthia Ratcliffe, were married in a double wedding at St Leonard’s Church in Deal.

Mr Harris was a compositor for seven years at the office in Queen Street, Deal. He married Cynthia from the book-binding department.

Brenda, a dispatcher, married John Masters, an former Royal Marines staff bandmaster.

Their third sister, Thelma Brown, was a bridesmaid at the wedding. She wore a lavender ankle length dress and carried pink roses and carnations.

She will be celebrating her own diamond wedding in 18 months.

Mrs Brown, of Folkestone, said: “It was the Rev Chidgey’s first double wedding. I remember him being very nervous. He’d never done one before.”

Following the ceremony, 100 guests were invited to Dobson’s Cafe, opposite the Mercury office in Queen Street, for a sit down meal. It cost £33.16s for everybody plus £2 for hire and £8 for a two-tier wedding cake!

The brides each received a Waterman fountain pet set as a present from former owners of the Mercury – TF Payne and Sons.

Mr and Mrs Masters, who now live in Folkestone, honeymooned in Bournemouth, while Mr and Mrs Harris, now of Portsmouth, visited Brighton.