A couple from Alton say they don’t know the secret of a long and happy marriage - but they seem to have discovered the formula.

For Ian and Doreen Quinnell, of Lime Avenue, are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary on June 5.

The roots of their relationship go back much further than that day at the Church of St Lawrence in 1965.

Ian, 82, said: “We all moved into the Whitedown estate in Alton. Doreen lived on the other side of the road and we played in the streets.

“I was at Kingsley School in 1952. By the time of the coronation in 1953 we were in Alton and Doreen was already there.”

Doreen, 80, said: “It was around Christmas time in 1950 that we moved in.”

Ian added: “We went to St Lawrence School and then Alton County Secondary, which is now Amery Hill.”

Doreen worked at a knitwear factory, first in Albert Road and then at what is now The Kings Arms in Vicarage Hill.

Ian was employed by a timber company in Farnham - at one point making a big wooden box for a tobacco shredding machine heading for South Africa - before getting a job at Watney’s brewery.

At first he worked in the cellar, but he was enjoying a long career as a drayman by the time the couple married. Ian said: “I’ve been on the road all my life.”

Ian and Doreen have a daughter, Clare, and a son, Paul. Since Ian retired the couple have been on caravanning holidays all over the British Isles. They have also had trips abroad to countries including Spain, Portugal and Egypt.

Doreen said: “It’s mostly been caravanning since retirement, although like everything else it’s getting expensive.”

Asked how they have made their marriage last so long, Ian said: “We’ve known each other about 73 years. We’ve found a way.”