Lifelong sweethearts ready to celebrate diamond day

Marion and Tony Elstob will celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary next week surrounded by family and friends.

The couple met when they were working in fields near High Lands in 1960 and have remained sweethearts ever since.

What makes their 60th anniversary on September 3 even more special is it will be Marion’s 83rd birthday and comes just four days after Tony turns 82.

The couple live at High Lands, near Butterknowle, in a home they modernised themselves, and will celebrate their anniversary at Etherley Cricket Club on September 5 with their three children Andrea, Andrew and Amanda; six grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Marion was living with her family at High House Farm when she met Tony, who lived nearby at Low Wales Field.

“Wales Field and High House join at the bottom in the valley and I used to see Marion in the fields getting the bales in during haytiming,” explained Tony.

“That’s how we met.”

Marion added: “We used to go thrashing at their farm and they used to come to ours, we used to help each other.

“We started courting when Tony was 16 and it was actually six years before we got married.

“The first time we went out was to see Seven Brides For Seven Brothers at the Essoldo cinema, in Bishop Auckland, it’s now a bingo hall.

“But mainly we just spent our time walking down the fields.

“I had a little transistor radio and we used to listen to that – we thought it was marvellous!”

It was Marion’s 23rd birthday when she and Tony were married at St Cuthbert’s Church, in Etherley, followed by a reception at Butterknowle Village Hall.

The couple didn’t have a honeymoon but instead enjoyed days out, including a drive up to Scotland, before settling down to married life.

“We rented a little cottage in Morley,” said Tony.

“We eventually bought it and built it up into a three-bedroom house, then we moved here in 1993.”

Alongside raising the children, Marion continued to work on the family farm and, when the farm was sold, she worked at Witton Castle Country Park.

Then, when the grandchildren came along, she helped to looked after them.

Tony was a wagon driver before working as a mechanic at open cast mines and he still loves to tinker with engines.

He is also the treasurer for Hamsterley Tractor Club.

Marion is a passionate gardener and the couple believe having their own interests and hobbies is one of the secrets of a successful marriage.

“Marriage is a partnership and we tend to agree with each other most of the time,” said Tony.