A COUPLE who were separated by war for the first three years of their marriage celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on Saturday, December 8, at the Polebarn Hotel.

John and Joan Wadsworth met at the Bath YMCA when Joan, her mother and her sister Betty were cooking breakfasts for troops on weekend leave part of their duties as members of the Women's Voluntary Service.

Mrs Wadsworth (ne Robertson) said: "We married quickly because we were very fond of each other and in those days you never knew what was going to happen."

After their marriage in 1941, Mr Wadsworth waited for three months on a troop ship, the Empress of Russia, outside Liverpool, unable to depart for the Far East for fear of U-boats.

Mr Wadsworth spent the next three years in India and Burma with the 177 Beaufighter Squadron, unable to return home until the war was finally over because the journey was too long and dangerous.

After the war, the couple ran a grocery and bakery for four years until Mr Wadsworth decided to take a job with Avon Rubber, where he worked until he retired just before his 60th birthday. Mrs Wadsworth worked for the Inland Revenue.

Revealing the secret of a good marriage, Mrs Wadsworth said: "Give and take is very important and not taking any notice when each other gets ratty the main thing is tolerance."

Mr Wadsworth joked that he did not think it was fair the train robbers only got 30 years when he got 60!