Dennis and Audrey have two reasons to celebrate

On Monday they hosted a party marking Audrey's 81st birthday that day as well as their diamond wedding anniversary which was yesterday.

They were joined by their three sons - Michael, David, and Robert - who came to Bexhill for the day with their own families, including grandchildren Gary, Darren, Jay, Emma, and Samantha.

Their other grandchildren Stephen, Paul and John were unable to attend.

Dennis, also 81, presented Audrey with a diamond ring as well as a bouquet of deep red roses, the same colour as the ones she carried on her wedding day.

Audrey said: "As soon as I saw the roses, I knew they were from Dennis. When the waiter came out with them, he said - somebody thinks the world of you."

Yesterday the couple went out to the Wheatsheaf for dinner with close friends, sixty years after they married at St Peter's Church in Caversham, near Reading.

"The church was absolutely packed," said Audrey.

"It was after the war and everything was so austere - people would turn out to anything to cheer."

The couple had met as war was ending in Europe; Dennis was with the Fleet Air Arm, part of the Navy, and Audrey was in the Wrens.

Dennis was sent with his team to pick up some Wrens in nearby quarters; when he was seated in the lorry, he saw Audrey standing and asked if she would like to sit down. When she said yes, he patted his lap.

"She sat there, and I have never got rid of her since. That is how we met...

I supposed it developed from there."

They started dating and became engaged on Dennis's 21st birthday in 1946, then married on Audrey's 21st birthday in 1947.

Dennis was born in London and considers himself Cockney - he grew up in Raynes Park, and when he left school went into the printing trade.

Audrey was born in Newbury, Berkshire, and spent her childhood in Reading.

After Dennis left the Navy, he returned to printing and the couple settled in Reading, in the house where Audrey grew up, while he worked on first the Reading Standard, then the Berkshire Chronicle.

Having had three sons, they moved to South Africa, where Dennis worked for The Cape Times based in Cape Town. They stayed for almost five years before returning to England to look after Dennis's mother.

Dennis said: "I realised the printing trade was going downhill, as I knew it, so I took a change of career and went into the prison service."

In 1962 he began a 20-year stint as a prison officer at Wandsworth, and was there at the same time as many notorious criminals including Ronnie Biggs.

"I met them all - the Kray brothers, the Richardsons, the Tebbs, the Nashes, you name them, they all came into Wandsworth while I was there."

The couple moved to Bexhill in 1982 when Dennis was posted to Northeye, a semi-open prison on the site now occupied by the United Arab Emirates training project.

They moved to their present home in Sutton Place six years ago. They are both keen bowlers and belong to both Gullivers bowls club and Egerton Park, which they claim keeps them fit and active. They recently enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise which included an energetic trip up Mount Etna.

They also love football - Audrey is a keen Reading fan who is thrilled at her team's progress this year, while Dennis is a lifelong Chelsea supporter.

"I was born at St Thomas' Hospital, just a mile or so from Stamford Bridge, so I have always supported my team."

The only time they have ever argued led to Dennis walking around the streets of Bexhill for hours on his own; he was mortified when he came home to discover he had missed the football scores.