WHEN hospital patient Bert Vincent caught sight of a pretty young orderly called Elfrida in the next ward, he knew she was the girl for him - even though part of her face was hidden by a mask.

"I used to work in the slaughterhouse at Stratford-sub-Castle, having just come out of the army after my National Service," Bert explained.

"The foreman saw me one day and asked if I would go into work that Sunday because they had a load of pigs to kill.

"I said 'yes', but it wasn't a good day, as I fell into the hot tank and one of my legs was burned.

"I ended up in Odstock hospital's burns unit.

"When I was starting to recover, I looked across to the other ward, where this lovely young lady was working with a mask on.

"I made signs at her to take her mask down, so I could see her face.

"My brother-in-law used to come up to see me and I said to him 'I wouldn't mind having a date with that girl', and he took a note to her.

"We went to the Yew Tree pub for a drink and it went from there."

Bert and Elfrida celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on Saturday, with an at-home party for their family.

Elfrida, who was brought up in Herefordshire, said that she had had to leave the hospital because her mother had been taken ill and she had not been allowed time off to go home to look after her.

When she returned to Salisbury, she trained to be a cook in the Close, along with her sister, Esmay.

She and Bert were married at Salisbury register office on the same day as Esmay married Roy Miller, a painter and decorator from Salisbury.

Elfrida (75) and Bert (71) began their married life in Ashley Road and moved to Coronation Road, before settling 19 years ago at their current home in Heath Road.

They have two sons - one of whom is Wiltshire county councillor Clive Vincent - two daughters and seven grandchildren.

All were able to attend the at-home party, except one grandchild, who was singing with a choir in the United States.

Bert said: "We have a lovely family and we are very appreciative of all they did to make our anniversary a memorable day."