MALPAS couple Bill and Doreen Coffin are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on Saturday.

The teenage sweethearts’ romance blossomed and they were 20 when they married at St Alkmund’s Church in Whitchurch in 1958.

The couple, now 70, initially lived in Nomansheath before moving to Cuddington – where they still live

Doreen was born at Nomansheath, the eldest daughter of Bill and Joan Gibbons and was educated at Whitchurch Secondary Modern School.

Bill is the only son of George and Annie Coffin, and went to Malpas Alport School. He served an apprenticeship as a bricklayer at Malpas firm Chesworths.

He then did two years’ National Service as a clerk in the Royal Army Medical Corps, before working for various building companies, eventually becoming a self-employed builder.

He is a member of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows Friendly Society, and was provincial Grand Master of the then Beeston Castle District in 1983.

Mrs Coffin worked as a shop assistant in Dudley’s clothing shop in Whitchurch, then at the egg packing station in Malpas. She was a dinner lady at Bishop Heber High School for 14 years.

The couple are celebrating their anniversary with a family get-together including daughter Zena and her husband Graham Swansbury and four step grandchildren: Rebecca, and triplets Natasha, Chloe and Kieran. They then plan a second honeymoon in Scotland.