A CHANCE meeting on the school bus led to wedded bliss for one happily married couple celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary tomorrow (AUG 25)

Reg and Joyce Smith, 81 and 82 respectively, from Ashbury, met when they were both students at Faringdon Secondary Modern in the late 1940s. Joyce lived in Asbury and Reg in neighbouring Bourton.

“We sat next to each other on the bus and because I used to do baking at school he would eat all my cakes,” said Joyce, “I thought he was very cheeky.”

“I thought she was a very lovely pretty girl and quite a catch,” added Reg.

Fairy cakes led to romance blossoming during walks in Ashbury, dances and trips to the football.

They started dating in 1953 just as Reg joined the Royal Dragoon Guards, leading to lengthy separation.

“It was difficult back then, all we had were letters but when you love someone you make it work,” said Joyce.

Reg and Joyce tied the knot at Ashbury’s St Mary’s Church on August 25 1956, where Joyce wore a £12 pink nylon dress and feathered headpiece.

“I sent her out with £15 and she came back with change,” joked Reg.

Children Adrian, Jacqueline and Jonathan soon followed with the couple now devoted grandparents to nine grandchildren aged between 35 and 14 and six great-grandchildren, with one on the way.

As they raised their family, Joyce worked in the local shop while multi-tasking Reg juggled his lorry driver and labourer jobs with a voluntary neighbourhood correspondent role at the Adver.

As to their sixty year success, Joyce revealed compromise is the key.

“We’ve had our ups and downs but we’ve always talked, and worked through them, there’s give and take,” she said.

Reg added: “On our wedding day the vicar said, never let the sun go down on an argument, and we have done that for the last 60 years.”

The couple have battled many difficulties over the years with Reg undergoing a triple heart bypass in 2000 and Joyce having severe arthritis, but remain as devoted to one another as the day they met.

“He’s kind, he’s caring, I know he would never do anything to hurt me, he’s hard working and he’s a great husband,” said Joyce.

The couple will toast their six decades with a pub lunch in Bourton-on-the-Water today, followed by a wedding blessing at St Mary’s Church on Sunday.

A letter is expected from the Queen to compliment the eternity rings the couple will exchange.

On September 3 a family party will be held at the Bourton Working Men’s Club which Reg and Joyce are members of.