MANY congratulations are due to a Whitchurch couple who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last week.

Peter and Eileen Hooks celebrated their diamond anniversary on Thursday 21 April.

They say that apart from their shared faith, their strong marriage is also down to the age old advice, ‘never go to bed angry’.

Not that the couple have had too many rows, they hastened to add.

The diamond duo first met when Peter came to Hampshire as a Methodist Pastor in the Bourne Valley to look after eight small chapels.

Peter, 81, said that he was often asked to sing a solo during a service.

One Sunday morning, a ‘mischievous elderly lady’ came up to him to tell him that it seemed as if he was singing the first verse of “Be Thou My Vision” to a young organist.

For those that do not know their Christian hymns, parts of this verse include ‘Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light’.

Sixty-years on the couple are still together and laughing.

Peter said: “We have so much to be thankful for, and have been so blessed by God.”

The couple were together for six months before marrying at St Mary Bourne chapel on 21 April 1952.

Eileen, 77, said: “It was love at first sight.”

She bought her wedding outfit at Ponds in Andover, which is also where she worked at the time.

Their first home was a rented, thatched house in Southington.

They kept a vegetable patch, mainly as a necessity, as they only had £3.50 a week to live on.

Peter said: “My dad lent us £1,000 and we paid him back ever so quick.”

Together the diamond couple have a son, daughter, six grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.

Peter added: “The family are very supportive, they’re so, so good.”

Peter and Eileen also share a great love of golden retrievers, and have had many during their happy marriage, the latest of which is Rosie.

Throughout their marriage, the pair have worked together in the church and have only stopped as they have got older.

Over the last couple of years, Peter and Eileen have suffered ill health but have nothing but praise for the doctors and nurses in Basingstoke, Winchester and Southampton.

The couple have said that they have had a happy life together.

Ever a joker, Peter said: “It’s too expensive to split up isn’t it.”

They did not travel together until 1992 and since then they have visited Israel, Turkey, Canada, New Zealand, Malta, Cyprus, Switzerland and Norway.

Peter said: “We’ve had a great 60 years.”