A man who married his sweetheart on St Patrick’s Day 60 years ago said he was staggered the first time he saw her.

Gillingham couple Mary and Patrick Noonan both moved from the Republic of Ireland to England for work in their 20s but did not know each other until fate brought them together at London’s Hyde Park in 1954.

Nicknamed Pod from the pronunciation of the Irish equivalent of Patrick, 89-year-old Paidrig said: “I saw her coming towards me and I was staggered by her.

“I did something I’d never done before – I walked up and held out my arm for her to take.

“She put her arm in mine and that was it – it’s still there now.”

It was an unusual turn of events that led to their wedding on St Patrick’s Day the next year.

Mr Noonan worked for London Transport and could not choose his holidays. Assigned the week off the pair decided to tie the knot. But being Catholic they could not be married in a church during the period of Lent – save for St Patrick’s Day.

Unable to get either of their families over they were married in front of their landlords and a few friends. They spent their honeymoon in Ramsgate and later that year went over to Ireland to meet the in-laws.

Mr Noonan added: “It was so funny introducing my mother to my wife who she’d never met.

“But they all loved her straight away.

“When I went to meet her family, it was like going home.”

The happy couple went on to have seven daughters and one son and 12 grandchildren.

They moved to Gillingham about 13 years ago to be closer to their family in Medway.

Mrs Noonan, known as Teasie because she could not pronounce her middle name Theresa as a child, was a nurse.

The 88-year-old now has dementia and lives with her husband at Park View Care Home in Canterbury Street.

The pair went on holidays all across Europe with the Royal British Legion after Mr Noonan gave seven years in the Territorial Army.

They said the best thing about a long marriage is their wonderful children and grandchildren.