Don and Daphne Bates are today celebrating their Diamond Wedding.

The couple first met 68 years ago when they both went for a job interview with the South Eastern Electricity Board - though fortunately for different posts. Don got the role of trainee accountant, and Daphne as secretary.

They married on July 28, 1956, at Byron Road Methodist Church in Gillingham during a violent thunderstorm, and then honeymooned on the Isle of Wight.

Mr Bates served as a retained firefighter for 24 years and went on to establish the Retained Firefighters Union, of which he was General Secretary for 21 years. Mrs Bates was the union's chief administrative officer.

Today they live in Marion Crescent in Maidstone where they have been celebrating their 60 years of married life together.